Advertorials | Apr 06,2026
The health sector remains underprovided despite rising public spending, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) told Parliament today, in remarks that laid out where the money has gone and where it has fallen short, against a federal budget that shows how little of it there is to allocate.
The 2025/26 federal budget appropriates 48 billion Br for health, comprising 31.7 billion Br from the treasury and 16.3 billion Br from external assistance. Set against the total approved budget of 1.93 trillion Br, itself up 34.4pc from the previous year, the health allocation amounts to 2.5pc of federal spending, with external donors financing one of every three Birr.
The figure excludes regional health outlays channelled through federal subsidies, but as a statement of federal priority it sits far below the 15pc of government budgets that African Union member states, Ethiopia among them, pledged to health under the 2001 Abuja Declaration.
The Prime Minister's account pointed to a spending pattern weighted toward medical equipment rather than broader system expansion. According to him, the sector's needs extend beyond devices to buildings, beds and health workers, all of which remain in short supply.
"We can't satisfy the country's need with four hospitals," he said, urging faster expansion of tertiary care for a population of well over 100 million.
Renovation work at St. Paul's Hospital, while ongoing, does not meet national demand. His government's response is a construction programme of new model hospitals designed to raise both capacity and standards of care.
The one clear success in his account to the federal legislative house was pharmaceutical manufacturing. Domestic producers' share of the medicine market has climbed from about four percent to 45pc, according to the Prime Minister, a more than tenfold gain that shifts nearly half of supply onto local factory floors.
PUBLISHED ON
Jul 07,2026 [ VOL
27 , NO
1367]
Advertorials | Apr 06,2026
Fortune News | Jul 27,2019
Fineline | Mar 16,2019
Commentaries | Jun 08,2024
Commentaries | Jun 20,2026
Verbatim | May 23,2026
Fortune News | Aug 19,2023
Fortune News | Oct 21,2023
Featured | Sep 06,2020
Radar | May 23,2026
Dec 22 , 2024 . By TIZITA SHEWAFERAW
Charged with transforming colossal state-owned enterprises into modern and competitiv...
Aug 18 , 2024 . By AKSAH ITALO
Although predictable Yonas Zerihun's job in the ride-hailing service is not immune to...
Jul 28 , 2024 . By TIZITA SHEWAFERAW
Unhabitual, perhaps too many, Samuel Gebreyohannes, 38, used to occasionally enjoy a couple of beers at breakfast. However, he recently swit...
Jul 13 , 2024 . By AKSAH ITALO
Investors who rely on tractors, trucks, and field vehicles for commuting, transporting commodities, and f...
Aug 14 , 2026
Aschalew Fetene, known as “Ardi” and admired for his poetic depth, has built a ti...
Aug 8 , 2026
The World Bank asks readers to picture a mother in rural Ethiopia who has never held...
Jul 31 , 2026
Weldu Yiheysh has not read the Pacific temperature charts. He does not need to. In Shibta District of Enderta Wereda, in...
Jul 25 , 2026
Ideally, citizens who have paid income tax all year should not have to reach for thei...
Loading your updates...