A queue for diagnostics at the nation's largest state-owned hospital, Black Lion. As the health sector is largely funded by development partners from abroad, decreased support as donors shied away due to the war in the North has required the suspension of several new projects. Social health Insurance slated for next year was scraped due to a budgetary shortfall of five billion Birr. With the physician-to-patient ratio titering at around 1:30,000, queues in public hospitals are commonplace in Ethiopia. The largest supplier of pharmaceuticals in the country, state-owned Ethiopia Pharmaceutical Supply Services (EPSS), recently reported that it is owed 1.4 billion Birr by hospitals that have not settled their payments.

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