MU availed hospital beds to the newly built hospital in Axum

As part of its growing institutional commitment to strengthen the health system in Tigray region,
MU joined hands with Tigray Region Health Bureau (TRHB) to avail two 40-ft containers full of hospital beds and other medical equipment and supplies to the newly built hospital in Axum at the turn of the New Year.

The donation was made possible through the special agreement MU holds with its reliable Swedish partner, Humanbridge, the same NGO which helped equip the university hospital in Mekelle since 2006. The donation to the brand new unequipped hospital in Axum consists of new hospital beds, heavy duty medical equipment, utilities and supplies worth close to 5 million Birr. MU and TRHB entered in to a special cost sharing agreement to cover the expenses incurred during the shipment, port and custom clearance of the cargo which consumed about 1.2million Birr till its unloaded in final destination at the city of Axum.

The new hospital in Axum, built with an outlay of more than 45 million Birr is believed to serve as a referral center for a population of nearly 2 million people in Central, North West and Western Tigray. However, the hospital is not yet furnished save the current donation, the first of its kind in an attempt to gradually fully equip the hospital in the next six months.

Speaking at the occasion of cargo delivery, Kindeya G.hiwot (Ph.D.,) Academic Vice President of MU, said, “Since 2010, MU has made direct donations in medical equipment and supplies worth of more than 9.5 million Birr to ten hospitals in Tigray region besides to bridging the gap in the region by availing tertiary clinical services otherwise available only in Addis Ababa. On this special occasion, MU is practically demonstrating its unique commitment to scale up its much needed technical and material support to the health care facilities in Tigray.”

“MU has long been instrumental in supporting our hospitals in Tigray and the recent donation to the new hospital in Axum would not have materialized had it not been for the exceptional commitment of MU and its solid institutional partnership with Humanbridge,” said Hagos Godefay (MPH) Head of TRHB. “As long as MU and TRHB remain up to the current commitment, Humanbridge is willing to fully equip the hospital in Axum in the months to come,” says Adamu Anley, Director of Humanbridge in Africa, a Swedish national who masterminded an unprecedented donation of medical equipment to many hospitals in Ethiopia, including this particular donation to Axum, over the last several years.