Seven days of chaos in the ER: How this country's healthcare system is unraveling

Renewed fighting has pushed Ethiopia's healthcare system close to collapse: "The whole emergency (room) was flooded with war trauma patients," one surgeon says of a brutal week in September.

<img src='https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/2880x2160+180+0/resize/2880x2160!/quality/85/format/webp/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F68%2F92%2Faf5002f84593a7497146a3876186%2Ftigray-1.jpg' alt='Betelhem, 10, lies on a bed next to her father at Ayder Referral Hospital in Mekelle, Ethiopia, on October 6, 2026. She was injured during heavy artillery shelling in Alamata. Fighting broke out between the rebel Tigray People's Liberation Front and federal forces on September 23, sparking fears of a return to the civil war of 2020-2022 and putting tremendous strain on the healthcare system.'/><p>Renewed fighting has pushed Ethiopia's healthcare system close to collapse: "The whole emergency (room) was flooded with war trauma patients," one surgeon says of a brutal week in September.</p><p>(Image credit: AFP)</p><img src='https://media.npr.org/include/images/tracking/npr-rss-pixel.png?story=g-s1-152693' />