Betrayed and Left Alone by the World, A Mekelle Ayder Hospital Surgeon’s View on the War on Tigray

Dr Fasika Amdeslasie is an associate professor at Ayder Comprehensive Specialized Hospital and a practicing surgeon. He was the head of the Tigray Health Bureau during the short-lived interim government set up by the Ethiopian regime following the fall of Mekelle to its forces.

Teklai Gebremichael interviews him on the past three years, his role in the Prosperity Party’s Interim Administration for Tigray, what it means to be a surgeon in Tigray during the past three years, his views on the world’s indifference/silence in the face of the genocidal war and his personal coping mechanism.

Fasika Amdeslasie also speaks about the destruction of Tigray’ health system, how the helpless Tigrayan doctors felt during the war because they couldn’t treat patients due to lack of medical supplies, why Tigrayan doctors are now leaving Tigray and other related issues, and current improvements, if any.

Asked about how he felt about the war on Tigray, the siege and the blockade and the silence and indifference of the world, he said “betrayed and left alone by the world .. nobody cares about you … the world claims to be humane, but it is inhumane”. He said his faith and relationship with his God was his consolation, hope and means of survival.

Fasika Amdeslasie has set up a local foundation called haqi.org that has already stated to provide a toll-free helpline to traumatized doctors and health care workers in Tigray. The foundation also provides a platform for connecting Tigrayan youth with diaspora and foreign mentors on areas of common interest.

Fasika Amdeslasie calls on everyone to help Tigray by any mean possible, small or big, to stand on its feet.

Fasika Amdeslasie tells his story of survival simply, as if to say nothing unique, just one of many Tigrayan stories, and yet manages to show us the degree of Tigray’s psychical and psychological devastation and the needed monumental and urgent help that hasn’t yet begun arriving.

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