Viewpoints | Sep 23,2023
On any day, the waiting hall of Black Lion Hospital is not a sight for the faint-hearted. Patients seeking treatment find themselves marooned on multi-seat waiting chairs in dangerously close quarters and unsanitary conditions.
But even this has changed, with patients wary of visiting health centres and public health professionals themselves trying to devise ways of limiting the number of patients that come to hospitals.
Black Lion, for instance, used to have an average of 20,000 patients a day seeking its services before the outbreak of COVID-19. By April, there was only a fifth as many, with people attempting to avoid contracting the virus and decreasing their mobility throughout Addis Abeba.
It was this fear of slacking health services that induced the establishment of the Essential Services Continuity Section under the COVID-19 inter-ministerial task force being led by the Prime Minister. Its mandate included monitoring health institutions for non-COVID-19 healthcare.
Among the practices being expanded is telehealth, where patients are advised by their doctors over the phone under guidelines provided by the Health Ministry. But with doctor’s visits now being spaced out widely, those considered high-risk have been impacted detrimentally. Some patients have died before their next appointment.
It is still not clear if such non-COVID-19 related deaths have been on the rise given poor record-keeping in the country. At the moment, assessments done until the end of May show no significant changes in death rates in Addis Abeba. The tally for June and July are still to come.
You can read the full story here
PUBLISHED ON
Aug 08,2020 [ VOL
21 , NO
1058]
Viewpoints | Sep 23,2023
Fortune News | Sep 10,2022
Sunday with Eden | Mar 23,2024
Agenda | Jan 30,2021
Fortune News | Mar 13,2021
Commentaries | Sep 14,2024
Fortune News | Jan 07,2023
Radar | Apr 06,2019
Fortune News | May 27,2023
Viewpoints | Jul 13,2020
Aug 18 , 2024 . By AKSAH ITALO
Although predictable Yonas Zerihun's job in the ride-hailing service is not immune to...
Jul 13 , 2024 . By AKSAH ITALO
Investors who rely on tractors, trucks, and field vehicles for commuting, transportin...
Jul 13 , 2024 . By MUNIR SHEMSU
The cracks in Ethiopia's higher education system were laid bare during a synthesis re...
Jul 13 , 2024 . By AKSAH ITALO
Construction authorities have unveiled a price adjustment implementation manual for s...
Nov 16 , 2024
In the realm of public finance, balance sheets speak louder than rhetoric. In such do...
Nov 9 , 2024
Ethiopia's foreign exchange debacle resembles a tangled web of contradictions and con...
Nov 2 , 2024
Addis Abeba, fondly dubbed a 'New Flower,' is wilting under the weight of unchecked u...
Oct 26 , 2024
When flames devoured parts of Mercato, residents watched helplessly as decades of toi...
Loading your updates...