Ethiopia: ‘We Are Prepared to Take Appropriate Legal Measures’: Ethiopian Health Workers Issue Ten-Day Ultimatum to Ministry

Addis Abeba — In yet another plea to draw attention to rising health worker’s plight, the Ethiopian Health Professionals Movement has issued a 10-day ultimatum to the Ministry of Health, demanding, once again, urgent reform, fair compensation, and dignified working conditions for the country’s health professionals.

The open letter, issued over the weekend, outlines 12 concrete demands, similar to previous demands dating back two years ago, and warns that legal action will follow if the government fails to respond by 11 May. “We would like to inform you that if we do not receive a satisfactory response to these demands, we are prepared to take appropriate legal measures.”

The letter, signed on behalf of health professionals across the country, paints a stark picture of the challenges Ethiopia’s frontline caregivers face: low pay, lack of housing, inadequate medical coverage, and what they describe as a “life below human dignity.” Despite years of sacrifice and risk, especially in the face of incurable communicable diseases, the professionals say they are being “exploited and ignored.”

The latest warning follows a recent online campaign launched by the health professionals under the banter #HealthWorkersMatter, #PayHealthWorkersFairly, and #HealthForAll across the country echoing the same demands they have been raised over the past five years. The organizers said they were preparing to submit a letter to authorities listing ten key demands, accompanied by a deadline – and warned that a strike could follow if their calls go unanswered. “The lack of acknowledgment, combined with the rising cost of living, prompted us to initiate a coordinated social media campaign,” one health professional told Addis Standard, “the question is solely a matter of rights, not a political one,” he stated. “The primary and foremost demand is that the income of health professionals is low relative to their workload and is not commensurate with the cost of living.”

It has become a common reality to see health professionals die due to lack of treatment

The ongoing campaign, which has resonated widely across the country through various social media networks, is serving as a digital rallying cry for a profession that has endured years of economic hardship and neglect. Countless health professionals from across the country took to social media to share their personal stories and press the urgency of their demands.

Despite the growing challenges, health professions have been performing our duties properly not because we have received appropriate pay or recognition… but because we are bound by the public trust and the ethics of our profession,” the latest statement said capturing the ethos that has kept many professionals from leaving the country despite poor conditions.

One of the most striking parts of the letter recounts a tragic reality: “It has become a common reality to see health professionals die due to lack of treatment, not to mention the increasing number of professionals who go out to beg in public saying, ‘Treat us,’ due to lack of money.”

“Because we are health professionals, we have been forced to bow our heads and live a life below human dignity.”

The demands include: a salary averaging $1,000/month based on East African benchmarks; a 45-hour work week in line with WHO recommendations, with proportional overtime pay; hazard pay, transportation and housing allowances; free medical care for professionals and their families; accountability for harassment and abuse against medical staff exacted on countless of them by various administrative and security apparatus in connection with their demands; the establishment of international exam centers inside Ethiopia; and a merit-based, transparent system for leadership appointments in health institutions.

We have neglected our own lives while being engaged in saving human lives for so long

The letter also strongly criticizes media misinformation and demands legal accountability for individuals spreading false claims that “erode trust in health workers.”

“We have neglected our own lives while being engaged in saving human lives for so long,” the letter said.

It also emphasized the non-political nature of their campaign and stated that “this is purely an economic demand and has no political agenda whatsoever.”

With a growing number of trained professionals choosing to emigrate due to systemic neglect, the letter calls the silence of the government and society “an unforgivable mistake for the generation.”

Despite years-long please from health workers in Ethiopia, the government is yet to rise to meet the demands.

Background

Over the past five years, multiple reports by Addis Standard revealed that coupled with growing security risks, the shortage of medicines, medical supplies, and basic amenities- especially in rural areas- Ethiopia’s health sector has not only demotivated health workers but also driven a concentration of professionals in major cities. This urban clustering has, paradoxically, led to high unemployment among doctors in a country where the health workforce density is just 1.0 per 1,000 people – well below the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target of 4.5 per 1,000.