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By Katharine Houreld and Giulia Paravicini

NAIROBI (Reuters) - In the largest hospital in Ethiopia's Tigray region, a child wounded in an air strike bled to death after doctors ran out of gauze and intravenous fluids. A baby died because there were no fluids for dialysis.

Doctors at the Ayder Referral Hospital in the regional capital Mekelle, which is under the control of Tigrayan forces fighting the central government, told Reuters by phone the lack of supplies is largely the result of a months-long government aid blockade on the northern region.

"Signing death certificates has become our primary job," the hospital said in a Tuesday presentation prepared for international aid agencies and shared with Reuters.

Notes and documents in the presentation included case summaries, lists of missing drugs and medical supplies, and photographs of wounded and malnourished patients. Reuters also interviewed three doctors, who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution by Ethiopian officials.

The doctors identified 117 deaths and dozens of complications, including infections, amputations and kidney failure, which they said were linked to shortages of essential medicines and equipment. They did not provide dates for most of them.


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FAMINE

Ayder has not received a resupply of medicine or equipment since June, the three doctors told Reuters. The 500-bed hospital is running out of everything from oxygen to antibiotics to therapeutic food for malnourished children, they said. Its scanners no longer work.

The percentage of children under 5 admitted with severe malnutrition nearly doubled to over 41% in October.



Surafeal Mearig is among the many children who are suffering because of the conflict


Three-month-old Surafeal Mearig weighed 3.4 kg at birth but is now 2.3 kg, hospital records show. A photograph shared by his parents shows his ribs protruding, eyes sunken in his skull.

A paediatrician said the boy's parents earned a good living before the war. The father worked as a construction company cashier and his mother in a bank. Neither is working now, according to the case notes.

The mother's milk has dried up and they cannot afford formula, the paediatrican said. The hospital will run out of food soon.

About 82% of essential drugs were available at the hospital a year ago, compared to 17.5% by the end of 2021, the documents state. Among those that have run out - insulin, oxygen and most cancer drugs.

https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/doctors-sa ... e/47238692

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