Doctors say lives are lost in hospitals in Ethiopia's Tigray due to dwindling supplies, blame blockade

  

Malnourished 3-month-old Surafeal Mearig, who weighs 2.3 kg compared to his birthweight of 3.4 kg, looks on after being admitted at the Ayder Referral Hospital in Mekelle, Tigray region, Ethiopia December 22, 2021. REUTERS/Stringer

 

 

A youngster injured in an air strike died when physicians ran out of gauze and IV fluids at Ethiopia's Tigray region's main hospital. Due to a lack of dialysis fluids, a newborn died.

 

The paucity of supplies is mostly the consequence of a months-long government assistance blockade on the northern area, according to doctors at the Ayder Referral Hospital in Mekelle, which is controlled by Tigrayan forces battling the central government.

 

"Signing death certificates has become our principal duty," the hospital said in a presentation shared by Reuters on Tuesday for foreign assistance organisations.

 

Case summaries, listings of missing medications and medical supplies, and images of wounded and starving patients were among the notes and papers in the presentation. Three physicians were also questioned by Reuters, although they begged not to be identified for fear of retaliation from Ethiopian authorities.

 

 

Doctors found 117 fatalities and scores of sequelae, including infections, amputations, and renal failure, all of which they blamed on a lack of vital drugs and equipment. For the most part, they didn't specify dates.

 

After ties between Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), which dominated national politics before Abiy's appointment and controls most of the area, a war broke out in November 2020. Thousands of people have died as a result of the fighting, and millions more have been forced to flee their homes.

 

Legesse Tulu, Ethiopia's government spokesman, reaffirmed on Monday that no embargo had been placed. He did not react to Ayder's concerns concerning the shortages.

 

 

 

"The TPLF is solely responsible for what is occurring in Tigray right now," Legesse told Reuters.

 

When the TPLF stormed the neighboring districts of Amhara and Afar last year before being forced out in December, he accused them of plundering equipment and medications from more than a dozen hospitals and 100 health centers.

 

Requests for reaction from Ethiopia's health minister and a TPLF spokeswoman went unanswered. The TPLF has previously denied robbing health institutions and blamed shortages of humanitarian supplies on the government.

 

The United Nations first raised concerns over access to Tigray in December 2020, when government forces gained control of Mekelle following a three-week battle with TPLF-aligned rebels.

 

The United Nations and other relief agencies have accused Abiy's administration of impeding humanitarian help from reaching Tigray on many occasions.

 

Since July, the government has restricted media access. Some relief organizations have been denied access, and most connections with the region have been disrupted.

 

 

Reuters reached out to two foreign relief organisations for comment on the Tuesday presentation, which was made on behalf of the entire Ayder hospital staff.

 

'ACTUALLY BLOCKED'

 

According to a senior doctor at Ayder, around 80-90 percent of Tigray's hospitals and clinics are closed. According to the United Nations, more than 90% of the 5.5 million people in the region require humanitarian aid, with 400,000 living in famine-like circumstances.

 

During the first eight months of the battle, while Tigray was under government control, some supplies made their way to the country's major cities. Doctors say that since the government's withdrawal in late June, little food and nearly no medical supplies have come.

 

They blamed a de facto government embargo, which U.N. and US officials have characterized. To meet the country's requirements, the UN estimates that at least 100 trucks of relief must reach Tigray every day. OCHA said last week that less than 12% of that had arrived since July.

 

According to OCHA sources, two of the three primary roads into Tigray were blown up when the Ethiopian troops retreated. Convoys attempting to go via Afar, the last available land route, have been met with opposition.

 

According to an OCHA report, Afar authorities unloaded and distributed assistance supplies from five of the twenty trucks that had been waiting for approval to enter Tigray for two weeks in the Afar border town of Abala.

 

According to Reuters, Tigray will run out of food and fuel by the middle of January, according to the World Food Programme.

 

Ahmed Koloyta, a spokesman for the Afar regional government, has not responded to calls for comment. According to Legesse, government spokesman, trucks that entered Tigray had not returned and were being utilized by Tigrayan forces.

Source: Reuters