Ethiopia is the second populous country in Africa with 104 million people. Around 45% of these people live under the poverty line with no access to basic needs such as health care services. There is only one doctor for over 17,000 people in Ethiopia compared to the World Health Organization’s recommendation of at least one doctor for 1,000 people. This scenario has worsened during current COVID-19 pandemic, where there are over 120,000 confirmed cases and the incidence rate is increasing rapidly. As the public health system is struggling to handle the progressively worsening situation, the government has urged the private hospitals to upgrade their facilities and join the fight against Covid-19.
As most of the specialized hospitals and medical personnel are in the Capital and its periphery, the rural communities are deprived of emergency medical services and travelling; especially for rural women to access care is difficult considering safety issues.
Considering the aforementioned scenario in the health sector and the COVID-19 pandemic, both American Medical Centre and Samaritan Surgical Centre will upgrade 11 private and public hospitals to make them recognized COVID-19 treatment facilities. In addition, they will train 22 doctors and 22 nurses from the selected hospitals who will further spread their knowledge to their colleagues at their respective facilities to assure the transfer of skills in a sustainable manner. Furthermore, they will launch a robust telemedicine program to ensure people all over Ethiopia have improved access to quality medical care services during this challenging time when every aspect of life has been profoundly affected. The telemedicine programme will engage 450 doctors throughout Ethiopia.
