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A convoy carrying medicines and relief supplies from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Ethiopian Red Cross Society (ERCS), organized in coordination with the Ethiopian authorities, arrived in the Tigray state capital, Mekelle.
Healthcare facilities have come to a standstill after supplies of medicines and basic items like surgical gloves ran out. It is the first international aid to reach Mekelle since the fighting broke out in Tigray more than a month ago. Ayder Hospital closed its intensive care unit and operating room due to a lack of medical supplies and fuel to run the generator, which the units depend on for electricity. At the end of November, the hospital received an influx of wounded in the clashes.
She has also had trouble providing care for routine and chronic medical needs, including diabetes, dialysis, and maternity and delivery services. It is the main referral hospital for the 500,000 people of Mekelle.
“Doctors and nurses have been forced to make impossible decisions about which services to continue and which services to cut, after weeks without new supplies, running water and electricity,” said Patrick Youssef, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). regional director for Africa, after a visit to Addis Ababa. “This medical consignment will inject new stock, help patients and reduce those impossible life-and-death selection decisions.”
The seven Red Cross trucks carry medicines and supplies to care for more than 400 trauma patients, as well as items needed to treat routine and chronic medical conditions. These supplies will be donated to Ayder Hospital, Regional Health Office and ERCS pharmacy in Mekelle. In addition, the ICRC team in Mekelle has been working to get the hospital’s fuel running on the generator and the water.
The Federal Ministry of Health also delivered medical supplies to the Mekelle health facilities today. “The supplies will make an immediate and vital difference for people who do not have access to health care today,” Youssef said. “We hope that many healthcare facilities in Tigray will face the same challenges as Ayder Hospital and urgently need support.”
The Red Cross convoy also brought blankets, tarps, kitchen utensils, clothes, soap and jerry cans that can help some 1,000 families who were forced from their homes by the fighting, as well as equipment to improve access to water and sanitation.
At the same time, ICRC teams are in North Amhara and West Tigray, where they distribute relief items to displaced families and assess humanitarian needs caused by the fighting. So far, the ICRC has provided medicines and medical supplies to seven health centers in Amhara that have received patients injured in the clashes.
In addition to medical supplies, the ICRC works with hospitals to meet the long-term physical rehabilitation needs of people who suffered amputations due to weapons-related injuries. The ICRC has the financial support of the international community to provide humanitarian assistance in Ethiopia. The ICRC has a global budget of 27 million Swiss francs in Ethiopia, of which 10 million Swiss francs has not been funded.
