Inside Ethiopia's war: Rare access to a hospital treating victims of renewed fighting

This young farmer is one of the many civilian casualties of the war in Ethiopia. He was shot by armed men in his legs, despite claiming to be a non-combatant. Bullets pierced through and caused an infection in his femur bone, so the doctors must cut it out in order to prevent amputation. Now we are treating more of bullet injuries. Previously we used to have a road-shocked accident, but now the bullet injuries have taken over. But the recent surge of conflict has stretched the hospital's resources. You may need some advanced procedure like bone cement and bone graft, which we don't have here. The farmer does not know if he can afford the transfer to Addis Ababa for the procedure, casting doubts over his chances to walk again. It's impossible to gauge the civilian casualty toll, but every day doctors hear stories like this one. We have chosen to keep his interview anonymous out of fear of retribution. I was at my home, then I walked out onto the road, then they shot me with a Kalashnikov. It was three bullets in both of my legs from a short distance. I didn't feel anything when it happened, but I remember it all. It took him two days to reach this hospital in Bahir Dar. I only started to feel something when people began moving me. I didn't stop bleeding until I reached here. This hospital services more than 5 million people in the Amhara region. But for injured civilians from the conflict, getting here can prove extremely difficult as it requires crossing through zones where there is ongoing armed conflict. In some areas it is even impossible for the hospital to send ambulances. So these people, most of them are trauma related. They may have fractures, they may have wounds. So these things are time sensitive. They need to be. This facility alone receives about 360 casualties from the conflict each month, but many more remain untreated due to inaccessibility.