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.
Government spokesman Legesse Tulu on Monday reiterated Ethiopia's position that no blockade had been imposed. He did not respond to questions about the shortages reported by Ayder.He accused the TPLF of looting equipment and medicines at more than a dozen hospitals and 100 health centres when its forces invaded the neighbouring regions of Amhara and Afar last year before being pushed back in December.
Abiy's government has repeatedly rejected accusations by the United Nations and other aid organizations that it is preventing humanitarian supplies from reaching Tigray They blamed what U.N. and U.S. officials have described as a de facto government blockade. The United Nations estimates at least 100 trucks of aid must enter Tigray each day to keep up with needs. Less than 12% of that has arrived since July, OCHA said last week.
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.