The Ethiopian healthcare strike of 2025 is not just a protest—it is a desperate cry for survival. As a medical advocate and citizen, I am writing this with urgency and emotion. What is unfolding across Ethiopia right now could cripple our already fragile health system.
This is a call to every Ethiopian. Please, read this with your heart.
As someone who deeply cares about the health system of our country, I am writing not just with urgency—but with pain, fear, and responsibility. What is unfolding right now in Ethiopia is dangerous, historic, and potentially catastrophic.
Over the past few weeks, more than 17,000 healthcare professionals across Ethiopia submitted a formal petition demanding answers to 12 critical survival questions—not luxury, not politics, just the bare minimum to survive as human beings.
Their deadline passed with complete silence from government bodies. Not one meaningful response.
To protect the public, they began with a partial strike—hoping the authorities would respond with understanding or dialogue. Instead, they were met with threats, harassment, arrests, and intimidation.
In some hospitals like Hawassa University Comprehensive Specialized Hospital and others, medical interns and residents were evicted from university compounds—ordered to return materials and leave, simply for standing up for their right to survive.
This is shocking. This is wrong. And this is not just a health issue—it is a national emergency.
Full Nationwide Strike Announced
In response to this brutality, a full strike has been declared starting Monday, May 19, 2025. But in reality, some hospitals have already begun striking early due to growing fear, imprisoning of professionals and high officials provocation.
Yes, this is dangerous. Yes, people will suffer.
But ask yourself—what choice do they have left?
They cannot feed their families.
They cannot afford rent.
They cannot clothe themselves.
They are living in conditions worse than prisoners.
And instead of being supported, they are being treated like criminals.
Let’s be honest: if this continues, people will die.
But let us also be honest: the blame will not be on the doctors, nurses, or interns. It will be on those who refused to listen.
This Is Not a Political Agenda.
What health professionals are demanding is not political. It’s a cry from people who can no longer live on starvation wages. They are mothers, fathers, sons, daughters—trying to serve a nation that has ignored them for far too long.
And yet, they are now being criminalized for asking to live with dignity.
We must all ask:
Where is the humanity?
Where is the leadership?
Where is the national media?
A Message to the Public and the World
I am writing this as a concerned Ethiopian, not as a member of any striking group. I am not organizing this. But as a doctor and a citizen, I cannot stay silent while injustice grows, and lives are put at risk.
They are fighting for your children, your mothers, your communities.
They are the same people who stood strong during COVID, war, and poverty—even when they had nothing.
All they ask now is the chance to live and serve with dignity.
The world must know what is happening.
The Ethiopian people must rise in support of these health heroes.
And the government must return to the path of dialogue—not destruction.
If We Stay Silent Now, Tomorrow Will Be Too Late
Healthcare professionals are exhausted, overworked, underpaid, and disrespected. They have been humiliated, threatened, imprisoned, and now are being forced out of their workspaces. All while trying to serve the community.
This is not just their fight—it is our fight. For dignity. For justice. For survival.
If we fail to support them now, the collapse of our health system will not be a warning—it will be a reality.