Solution, with-in

These recent years in the Ethiopian health system is marked by many frustrated healthcare professionals. Even though Ethiopia has one of the lowest health professionals to population ratios, the healthcare system doesn’t seem to satisfy its workforce. According to WHO, Ethiopia’s health professionals (Medical doctors, health officers, nurses, and midwives) density is 0.96/1000 population. This is lower than the average African density workforce (2.2/1000 population) and five times less than the minimum threshold of 4.5/1000 population recommended by WHO.

Health professionals in Ethiopia face many challenges in the system including unemployment despite their shortage in the country, lowest remuneration, lack of health insurance, unfavorable working conditions that are linked with physical abuse, barely paid overtime work, and heavily levied and taxed overtime work. According to the Salary Explorer survey, the average salary of a physician in Ethiopia is around 20,900ETB which is less than $450 per month. Many health professionals are unable to cover the basic living cost including rent, groceries, and transport especially if their working area is in the city. Because of this, it is not uncommon to find physicians who are willing to leave the country at any cost and work abroad exacerbating the brain drain. These and other challenges left the health professionals in the country in great despair.

The healthcare system is marked by a fragmented and broken supply of medicines and medical budgets. There is a huge patient flow to healthcare institutions with inadequate resources and a worn-out and frustrated workforce. This has made the country’s health indicator rank very low. Young physicians whose potential could change the system are now demotivated. Their vision to work in a quality health care system where they can support their family and community seems far away more than ever. The conflict, draught, the COVID-19 pandemic, and other complex and humanitarian settings in the country have exacerbated the problem leaving the health professional in trauma and emotional damage.

Many attempts have been made by healthcare professionals to bring the desired change in the health system. Coordinated protest demonstrations, strikes, and social media campaigns, and a few discussions with the stakeholders were demonstrated to bring solutions. However, the majority of health professional questions remain untouched and the health care system remains to have slow progress towards improvement. These left the health workforce to remain unsatisfied and frustrated. All measures taken also seemed to lack strong momentum and sustainability.

Despite these challenges, some of the new generations of health professionals in Ethiopia have used these opportunities to find their career paths in Entrepreneurship, healthcare innovation, and digital health. They have changed the status quo by creating a job for themselves rather than waiting to be employed by the government. Some of them have start-up health-tech companies, some of them found their own non-profit NGOs and some of them runs businesses that provide healthcare service. For example, Lifeline Addis Home-care is a healthcare business company established by a young physician; Dr. Solomon Desalegn, and his partners. The company was founded three and half years ago to provide quality, affordable and comprehensive care at home. Its service includes physicians’ visits, Nursing care, Palliative care, physiotherapy, and laboratory services. The company was able to provide home-based treatment for more than 250 COVID-19 Patients. Its experience in these regards has enabled it to develop the Ethiopian COVID-19 home-based treatment guideline in collaboration with the Ministry of Health Ethiopia and other partners. The company has now more than 13 employees of which the majority are young health professionals. Dr. Solomon and his partners are not only self-reliant this time but they are also expanding their healthcare business and making a tangible impact on the country’s health system. GIV Society Ethiopia is a non-profit event management organization established by young medical doctors. The non-profit aims to strengthen the volunteerism culture while making a difference in combating social challenges. The organization is known for its monthly free medical campaigns. So far, it has given free medical service to 3000 underprivileged community members in Addis Ababa engaging more than 1000 volunteers since its establishment in 2021. These and other success stories signify the role of the health workforce in creating a quality healthcare system. It also underlies the solution to the problems that can originate from the health professionals themselves. 

 How can we propagate these success stories?

One way of sharing this type of success story can be creating a platform where innovative and impactful health professionals can be featured. The platform would allow experience sharing among healthcare professionals encouraging cross-learning by discussing the challenges and opportunities in the system. The healthcare professionals will have access to learn from each other, motivate one another, and come up with a solution of their own that can improve the healthcare system. Let me know if you believe this would work and want to share any success stories where young physicians are creating an impact in Ethiopia’s healthcare system and their work needs to be showcased.

I am currently a scholar at The Healthcare Leadership Academy which aims to nurture leadership, foster frontline innovation, and empower and value the next generation of clinical leaders. I strongly encourage apply here and begin your journey.