Tigray. Help us offer health care in the new hospital in Adwa
In Tigray, most of the hospitals were destroyed during the first military occupation of the Ethiopian and Eritrea armies. The blockade of humanitarian aid continues, causing the deaths of hundreds of Tigers who cannot access medical treatment. A single structure survives. Kekane Mehret hospital in Adwa, supported by the Italian Association of Friends of Adwa. The Mediun page by Fulvio Beltrami adheres to the appeal of the Italian Association by divulging the fundraising to save the lives of hundreds of mothers and children in Tigray.
Article by Davide Tommasin, Fulvio Beltrami
Every offer for the project is precious!
In Tigray, a regional state of Ethiopia, a war with genocidal implications began in November 2020, now more than a year ago. A war that took place in the total blackout of electricity and communication infrastructures, in the indifference and silence of the rest of the world.
When the first information began to leak, it was immediately started to denounce Eritrea and Ethiopia aggression with ethnic background. Among all the crimes perpetrated on Tigrinians of all walks of life, age and sex, crops, stolen or killed livestock were burned and looted and not least. As Amnesty International reports denounced, 80% of the facilities sanitary facilities and hospitals destroyed, looted and rendered unusable. Hospitals that supported people living in Tigray, a region with 6 to 7 million inhabitants.
But there is a positive singularity in this sad scenario. The Kikane Mehret hospital in Adwa, Tigray, supported by the Italian association Amici di Adwa ONLUS (@AmicidiAdwa).
The hospital, designed to offer 200 beds, was built next to the Salesian mission. Healthcare activities have started in the first wing since March 2019, with initial 27 beds. Due to a serious political and military crisis between the central government and the ruling party in Tigray, the Adwa region is at the center of an armed conflict that began on November 4, 2020.
The Kidane Mehret remained the only one hospital within hundreds of kilometers able to offer health care to the wounded and sick. The blocking of telecommunications, services and movements by land and air currently prevent the arrival of humanitarian aid and basic necessities, so we are asking for help from all international organizations to be able to reach and support health workers and workers who remained on site despite the great danger.
Kidane Mehret is among the last bulwarks against the serious health shortages in the region that existed before the conflict and which have dramatically worsened from November 2020 onwards. In Ethiopia, the average mortality of women during or after childbirth is 350 deaths per 100,000 live births. 6 out of 100 children die before their fifth birthday.
In Adwa (Tigray region) there is a government hospital, but it offers very poor services in dangerous hygienic conditions. Only one doctor with a degree works there, the rest of the staff are not trained. There are no medicines or medical devices available. Electricity comes in intermittently, the kitchen runs on wood, the laundry is hand washed on the floor … Now this hospital operates at 15% of its capacity due to looting suffered during the Eritrean military occupation and the humanitarian aid blockade by the Amhara regime of Addis Ababa.
Hence the absolute need of the Friends of Adwa to build a new hospital, where women can safely give birth to their children. Where a fracture due to a trivial fall will no longer entail a permanent handicap. In 2008, the Ethiopian authorities asked for formal help from Sister Laura Girotto and the other sisters (Salesians of Don Bosco FMA), who had already been operating in the area for 15 years, offering education, education and financial aid to families.
The Daughters of Mary Help of Christians of the Kidane Mehret mission immediately took action to be able once again to help their people. The appeal was launched to all donors of the Friends of Adwa Association in Italy, who have already made the construction of the school possible in ten years.
Mr. Angelo Dell’Acqua, former volunteer designer of the mission, drew the floor plans; the Cherenet construction company in Addis Ababa is carrying out the work with competence. The agreement with the government authorities has been signed. On the other hand, technical advice and coaching for training are guaranteed by a group of doctors from Padua of the A.S.P.O.S. association. By going there from 2008 to today, they were able to check the current conditions and lend their medical help to the people of Adwa.
Groups of ophthalmologists have also made their important contribution, first with the MAIS PLUS ONLUS association, then with AMOA. The order of the Sisters of St. Joseph B. Cottolengo immediately offered an important contribution. Since autumn 2014, two sisters, Sister Pauline nurse-midwife and Sister Betty physiotherapist, have been in Adwa and work in the infirmary and outpatient clinics.
The Catholic University of Ethiopia before the conflict sent its students to do internships in the Adwa hospital which was being transformed into a Teaching Hospital, where national and international doctors can work shoulder to shoulder. In the meantime, the Friends of Adwa Association launched a project for the professional training of staff between 2018 and 2019 local nursing with the dispatch of nurses from Italy for “training on the job”.
To date, December 2021, bank accounts are blocked due to government choices (even if humanitarian agencies and NGOs have more freedom of access, however they also have economic constraints), humanitarian aid has access problems in the Tigray region, for political choices. As declared by the WFP — World Food Program, 100 trucks of medical supplies, life-saving material, fuel would be needed EVERY day to meet the needs of the people to be treated and helped.
For this reason, a voluntary fundraiser was launched via social Facebook to support the Kidane Mehret hospital in Adwa, to allow it to continue its activities, which have transformed from a largely pediatric and neo-natal hospital to a “life-saving” for every Tigrinya taken. targeted by the violence and abuses of war.
We ask everyone’s collaboration to save lives in an area where the survival of the entire population is at risk!
The Friends of Adwa association has identified a concrete package of actions possible through donations. With 24 euros you can donate a specialist instrumental essay to a mother or a sick person. With 48 Euros 16 kits to carry out laboratory tests. With 96 Euros, a surgical intervention with a monitoring visit is possible. With 340 Euros you can support the hospital by paying an Ethiopian doctor’s salary for one month.
Anyone wishing to participate in this commitment to save the lives of mothers and children of Tigray can visit the link of the Friends of Adwa association on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/donate/681096839966660/; directly access the donation on the website of the Association for Paypall payments or by credit card: https://dona.amicidiadwa.org/ or make a transfer to the current account in the name of Amici di Adwa onlus at the Credem bank — iban IT68J0303223400010000563212 or at Intesa S. Paolo bank IBAN IT46M0306923406100000006546
Every offer for the project is precious!
