Ethiopia's teaching hospitals are struggling with severe financial constraints due to an outdated funding formula. This has led to shortages of medicine, broken equipment, and difficulties in paying doctors. In Jimma, physicians report turning away patients despite their insurance coverage.
Teaching hospitals, traditionally centers for clinical training and community healthcare, are now facing significant financial challenges in Ethiopia. An arcane funding formula has left these institutions short on resources needed for critical care and staff salaries, as reported by Beza wit Huluager in Addis Fortune on November 15, 2025.
In Jimma, a physician highlighted the daily struggles: broken X-ray and CT machines hinder diagnostics, persistent medicine shortages limit treatments, and patients arriving with community-based health insurance cards are often turned away due to lack of funds. This situation underscores a broader strain on public health infrastructure, where hope alone cannot substitute for adequate budgeting.
The article describes how these hospitals, once bastions of care, operate under binding financial distress. No specific figures on budget shortfalls were provided, but the impact on patient care and medical training is evident. Balanced perspectives from healthcare workers emphasize the heartache of unmet needs, without delving into policy proposals or government responses in the available details.