Fresemaetat Primary Hospital is located in Hawzien, Eastern Tigray. The hospital served as a vital healthcare facility for an estimated 1-1.5 million people from surrounding rural and semi-urban communities. Before November 2020, the hospital was providing emergency care, maternal and newborn services, inpatient treatment, surgical services, and referral support, and was often the only accessible medical institution within its catchment area.
Following the outbreak of the war on Tigray, the hospital was severely damaged. Corridors were left strewn with medical waste, blood-stained linens, patient records, broken glass, and scattered pharmaceuticals. Doors were smashed and windows destroyed, indicating the breakdown of routine healthcare services and safety within the facility. Inpatient wards that had once been spaces for recovery stood empty and abandoned, with displaced beds and damaged furnishings. The absence of patients reflected forced displacement and the complete halt of essential inpatient services.
Operating theaters—areas designed to save lives—were damaged, with surgical drapes, tubing, and medical supplies strewn across the floor, and sterile environments destroyed, rendering surgery impossible. Even where heavy equipment physically remained, functionality had been eliminated; operating tables, lights, and machines stood idle amid debris, indicating systematic damage rather than incidental destruction. Scattered medicines, patient records, and clinical supplies further illustrated the long-term disruption of healthcare delivery and the loss of medical continuity.
Fresemaetat Primary Hospital stands as a witness to the genocide and the destruction of the health sector. Its destruction signifies more than broken walls and stolen beds; it represents preventable deaths, interrupted childbirths, untreated injuries, and lost futures. The condition of the hospital demonstrates that healthcare was deliberately targeted.