BY ABDUREZAK MOHAMMED
No one can deny that humanitarian aid and socio-economic assistance is needed wherever there is war. The provision of food, medical supplies and other humanitarian assistances to the victims of war like people living in war-torn areas, persons wounded during the war, displaced societies, as well as refugees may save the lives of hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions.
As everyone knows, humanitarian assistance and aid are material and logistical actions undertaken to help people in need. Besides, humanitarian assistance is provided to people to rescue lives and reduce potential sufferings.
It is to be recalled that law enforcement operation was carried out in the Tigray regional state by the federal government following Tigray People’s Liberation Front’s (TPLF) junta attack against the Northern Command of the Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) early November, 2020. The federal government also declared a State of Emergency over the Tigray regional state.
Recently, the State of Emergency Inquiry Board conducted its second-round field observation in the state and neighboring areas, and visited hospitals in Shire Endasilasie, Mekelle, Adigrat, Alamata, Kobo, Woldiya, and Mersa to oversee the medical assistance provided to members of the Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) and captives who were wounded during the military operation in Tigray region.
Regarding the findings of the field observation, the Inquiry Board conducted a discussion with the Women, Youth and Social Affairs Standing Committee of the House of Peoples’ Representatives and the Ministry of Health.
The discussion mainly focused on the humanitarian support of health facilities during the federal government’s law enforcement operation.
According to the report of the House, members of the Inquiry Board stated during the discussion that in the aforementioned hospitals proper treatment is being provided to the members of the ENDF and those who surrendered to the defense force during the operation.
The members of the Board also reported that dwellers in the areas where the hospitals are located are providing food, clothes, and other humanitarian supports for the wounded. The members of the Board expressed gratitude for the officials, employees and health professionals of the hospitals, as well as the local community for their sympathetically revealed humanitarian supports.
On the other hand, the Inquiry Board urged that the Ministry of Health and other concerning bodies need to cooperate and support health institutions and various centers as there is a shortage of medicines and medical equipment in some hospitals and medical centers.
The Chairperson of the Inquiry Board, Lema Tesema, thanked the Ministry of Health for its efforts and urged the Ministry to intensify its monitoring with a view to meeting the demands of the hospitals.
Dr. Lia Tadesse, Health Minister on her part said that medicine is being sent to the hospitals where there is a shortage to alleviate the shortage of medical facilities and other important aspects.
She further noted that it is important to check the shortcomings mentioned in the report and correct them.
During the discussion, Abeba Yosef, Chairperson of the House’s Women, Youth and Social Affairs Standing Committee, said that it is good for the Inquiry Board to observe what the reality on the ground in the hospitals is.
“The work done by the Ministry of Health to address the shortage of medicines and equipment in hospitals is very commendable,” she indicated.
Speaking to The Ethiopian Herald, Abeba Yosef said that since its establishment the members of the Inquiry Board conduct field observations in Tigray region and neighboring areas in two rounds. In their field observations, members of the Board inspected issues related to citizens’ human rights treatment and health care services in the areas, she added.
She further noted that as the Board witnessed, in its first field observation, Amhara regional state has played an important role in providing the wounded members of the ENDF and war captives with health care services by mobilizing state health professionals.
There is a shortage of medicines and medical equipment in some hospitals, she said adding, hospitals in the Tigray regional state were looted and some of them were severely damaged by the TPLF junta. “In addition to medicines and medical equipment, there is also lack of blood in hospitals.”
According to her, as there are other problems that cannot be properly addressed solely by the Provisional Administration of Tigray regional state, cooperation of all stakeholders and their concerted effort is quite essential than ever before.
In connection with the aforementioned issue, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams in southern Tigray are running mobile clinics and have restarted some services at health centers in the towns of Hiwane and Adi Keyih, alongside staff from the Ministry of Health. Between 18 December and 3 January 2021, MSF teams in Hiwane and Adi Keyih provided 1,498 people with medical consultations.
As to MSF, it is supporting the hospital in Adigrat, eastern Tigray. When an MSF team arrived in the city on 19 December 2020, they found the hospital, which has served a population of more than one million, had partially stopped functioning. Given the urgency of the situation, MSF sent oxygen cylinders and food for patients and their caretakers from Mekelle, 120 kilometers further south, and referred patients to Ayder hospital in the state’s capital city.
The report also revealed that since 23 December 2020, MSF medical teams have been running the hospital’s emergency room, as well as the medical, surgical, pediatric and maternity wards. They are also providing outpatient care for children under five. In total, MSF received 760 patients in the emergency room of Adigrat’s hospital from 24 December to 10 January 2021.
In central Tigray, as far west as the towns of Adwa, Axum and Shire, the teams are providing some of the displaced people with basic healthcare and supporting health facilities which lack essential supplies such as medications, oxygen and food for patients as well as it estimates that between three and four million people in central Tigray have no access to basic healthcare, according to the report.
It was also learnt from the report that in the western towns of Mai-Kadra and Humera, it has provided support to some health centers and has been supporting up to 2,000 internally displaced people by providing them with medical services, supplying water, sanitation and hygiene products, and constructing emergency latrines. Most of the internally displaced people are no longer there.
MSF teams have provided healthcare to thousands of displaced people at the border of Amhara Region since November. They have also supported several health facilities with medical supplies and provided nutritional and mass casualty trainings to Ministry of Health staff. MSF is also responding to the needs of Ethiopian refugees across the border in Sudan, the report also indicated.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), which was founded in 1971, sometimes rendered in English as Doctors Without Borders, is an international humanitarian medical non-governmental organization of French origin best known for its projects in conflict zones and in countries affected by endemic diseases.
The Ethiopian Heraled 17 January
