Earlier this year, the cessation of hostilities in the bitter conflict between the Tigray People’s Liberation Front and Ethiopian Federal Forces allowed for the delivery of emergency supplies to the country’s northern region, which had hitherto been subject to what the United Nations has described as a de-blockade.
But as the conflict between rebels and government forces resumes, doctors at the largest hospital in Tigray say they have enough insulin for days after another blockade in the area.
With fighting escalating again and both sides blaming each other for violating the truce, humanitarian overseers say they have not been able to bring new supplies of food or medicine to the Tigray for a month.
The region remains largely isolated from the rest of Ethiopia, with no basic services like electricity, telecommunications and banking.
A senior doctor told the newspaper, who asked not to be named for security reasons The Guardian“What we had in the hospital we were distributing to patients, but especially this week the patients come in and we tell them we don’t have insulin.”
“They come from far away, transportation is not easy, so when they come here and we tell them there is no insulin, they are very sad, they cry,” he added.
The doctor said he feared Ayder Hospital might see a repeat last year, when supplies to the Tigray were cut off for several months. “We will see patients die and fall on the street,” he said.
A second Ayder Hospital doctor told the British newspaper that Tigray doctors generally used two types of insulin, the first, fast-acting, or regular, and the other medium-acting, known as “NPH”.
“What we have is a very (small) amount of normal. We have reserved it for dealing with serious complications of diabetes.”
“Otherwise, the patient’s main insulin of the intermediate-acting type, which mimics the insulin produced by the body, is not available and it has been more than a month since we ran out of insulin.”
People in needType 1 diabetes insulin every day to check blood glucose levels. Without it, their conditions could quickly be fatal.
The government denies having besieged Tigray and blames the People’s Liberation Front of Tigray for obstructing the delivery of aid.
The United Nations World Food Program, which delivered all humanitarian shipments to the area on behalf of the World Health Organization, Doctors Without Borders and others, has also accused the rebels in the past of seizing fuel from its trucks and holding back long periods of time aid truck.
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