Among the lowest-paid medics in East Africa, Ethiopia’s doctors face state crackdown in strike for better working conditions.
By Faisal Ali
In a hospital in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, in mid-May, Tewodros* was at work treating patients when two police officers barged into the emergency room. Earlier that same month, the doctor had participated in a public sector health workers’ strike, protesting poor working conditions and low pay.
The government had immediately declared the strike illegal, setting the stage for a tense standoff with the country’s health professionals. The emergency room where Tewodros was working was one of the places where that played out.
The officers said they were taking him in for questioning but gave no reason, Tewodros says. They grabbed him and pulled him out of the ward. His colleagues tried to intervene, but the police ignored them and took him to a nearby station, where he was held for more than three weeks.
