The largest referral hospital in Ethiopia’s Tigray region has suspended regular operations due to a lack of medicines and power outages, according to the hospital’s medical director.
After 18 months of war in the northern region, Dr. Kibrom Gebreselassie said the Ayder Referral Hospital had reached a point where it could no longer provide services.
He stated that the suspension was due to a lack of medicine and medical supplies, as well as a lack of fuel.
“Now there is no electricity in Tigray and we have stopped producing oxygen,” he added.
The hospital’s doctors had been working without pay for over a year and were unable to support themselves or their families.
According to the UN, the region has been under an unofficial curfew since Tigray forces took control of it last June, with many people in need of medical treatment dying due to a lack of medicine.
In April, medical professionals told reporters that the hospital had increased its discharge rate from one to two bodies every two to three days to four to six bodies daily.
According to hospital sources, medical professionals were among those at risk of death due to a lack of medicines and proper medical services.
It should be recalled that in April, the hospital sent over 200 patients home after it ran out of food and supplies.
