BY STAFF REPORTER
Following the offensive acts the T-TPLF group launched a year ago against Amhara and Afar states, the insurgents of the faction have caused deaths to thousands of innocent civilians, looted and destructed properties worth fortunes, and displaced millions of people.
Both public and private facilities, including health care providing facilities, medical supply storage units and education institutions which were built at a high cost and providing services for the multitude of people have been vandalized and looted by the terrorist group. Even huge machineries and plants that cannot be easily transported had been deliberately burned, broken and damaged by the group to make them out of order in a manner it seems retaliation.
As a result, even after the insurgents defeated and driven out of the areas, the communities were challenged with regard to obtaining proper healthcare services and sending their children to schools as usual owing to the damages.
Especially, those people with a great need of basic and emergency medical care services were challenged hugely. However, subsequent to the intervention of various actors, government, non-government organizations, partners, the diaspora community, individuals among others, some of the facilities which were demolished and became fully and partially inoperative have become functional and started rendering services; of course a lot remains to be done.
Dessie Referral Hospital and Kombolcha Hospital which partially began operation after being damaged by the group can be mentioned in this regard. Recently, Amhara State Health Bureau has announced that health facilities which were vandalized and wreaked by the T-TPLF has commenced providing services to the communities for the reason effective reconstruction and restoration activities have been carried out, as ENA reported.
This was revealed at a consultation forum held in Bahir-Dar Town to reorient and sensitize the level of the problem and strengthen the support and collaboration of governmental and non-governmental organizations.
According to Bureau Head Dr. Melkamu Abete following the invasion of T-TPLF the health sector suffered a lot. He also mentioned challenges faced from the beginning of the existential war concerning to allocating human resources in treating and rescuing victims, provision of medicines.
He pointed out that as the war intensified, the terrorist group destroyed and plundered health facilities in all the areas they reached, to put the communities in trouble by destroying the facilities and affecting access to healthcare services.
Subsequent to group’s defeat in various parts of the State, effective restoration and rehabilitation activities were carried out in reconstructing health facilities, allocating manpower, supplying medicines and medical supplies in the liberated areas.
As a result, including maternal and child health care services, it was possible to access basic health care services to the people. The role partner organizations have played in this regard is immense, he remarked.
Mentioning that the current Ethiopian budget year is a year that needed the collaboration and cooperation of every individual to sustainably rebuild and restored health facilities that were damaged by the T-TPLF faction, he underlined the importance of further strengthening support.
Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Director at the Bureau, Dr. Moges Asmare on his part said mentioning the outcome of study, the cost that the plunder and damage came to happen on 1,107 health facilities by T-TPLF resulted in over 13 billion Birr.
However, due to the speedy intervention made by the top leadership, setting up a committee and a team that is led by the leadership to study the damage; it was possible to save the lives of many citizens, he added.
The effort and the concerted hands of all stakeholders and partners have enabled health facilities to restore; build their capacity and to have better performance.
In a paper he presented, Bureau’s Resource Mobilization, Management and Partnership Director Addis Abebaw said that as the participation of the people in the State was high. In addition, partner organizations working in the health sector have carried out exemplary activities. By promptly establishing and deploying 97 mobile medical teams each has six members, they carried out encouraging activities.
The Ethiopian Herald August 16/2022
