03/06/2025
For Other Health Professionals from your colleague
Will you continue to be silent when the government offers selective salary increases to doctors, ignoring the rest of the health workforce yet again?
I have served as a Health Officer in Ethiopia for over a decade. Today, I write not only out of deep concern, but with profound disillusionment and frustration.
Ethiopian health professionals — including nurses, health officers, laboratory technologists, midwives, and others — continue to endure systemic neglect and chronic underpayment. Despite the essential and often life-saving nature of our work, our wages are grossly insufficient to meet even the most basic human needs: food, shelter, and clothing. Many of us are living in financial destitution, grappling daily with the harsh realities of survival.
In response to this worsening crisis, a number of health professionals have chosen to take a stand — demanding fair treatment, dignity, and recognition. Yet, alarmingly, a large portion of our colleagues remain silent. This passivity, in the face of such glaring injustice, is both disheartening and damaging.
Why are you silent?
Why do you only raise your voice when the grievances of doctors are addressed — but remain indifferent to the shared suffering we all endure?
Will you continue to be silent when the government offers selective salary increases to doctors, ignoring the rest of the health workforce yet again?
Let us be clear: even doctors — those who have studied for 7 years and beyond, including specialists with over a decade of education and training — are fully aware of the potential consequences of their protest. They risk disciplinary action, revocation of their professional licenses, dismissal from employment, and even imprisonment. Yet, despite these real threats, they have found the courage to speak up.
So I ask you — those who studied for 3 or 4 years — what exactly are you afraid of?
If those with more at stake are willing to take a principled stand, what excuse remains for silence?
This movement is not solely about doctors. It concerns all of us — every individual who forms the backbone of Ethiopia’s healthcare system. Whether you are a nurse, a health officer, a midwife, or a technician, you are equally undervalued, overworked, and underpaid.
Remaining silent in the face of oppression does not preserve your safety — it simply delays the inevitable, and weakens our collective voice. By failing to stand together, we embolden the system that exploits us.
The time for hesitation has passed. The time for unity is now. We must rise — not only for our own welfare, but for the integrity and future of our profession.
From Dandena
