Medical errors have become the most controversial topic in Ethiopia in recent years. Unlike other professions, a medical error can have effects that you can not change forever. Here is the story about Mekdelawi, paralyzed from 4 years old.

Even though the story is about Mekdelawit, it is also about the public secret of Ethiopian medical profession. According to researches, medical errors kill more people each year than plane crashes, terrorist attacks, and drug overdoses combined in Ethiopia. They made a horrible, harmful mistake. And also there are damages hidden from the patients that often go unnoticed. Every day, our healers quietly live with those they have wounded or even killed.

Mekdelawit was four years old when she went to a hospital to get treated for her minor respiratory problem. According to her families, she was walking fine before she went to the hospital. Sadly, she has lost control of her body after going through faulty medical procedures.

As any clinical will tell you, even the best doctors make mistakes - "If we are going to have a medical system, then we are going to have medical errors." So it is important not only to learn how to prevent all the errors we can but also support clinicians when they inevitably do make mistakes.