The State Minister of Health, Dr. Ayele Teshome, who was the guest of honor on the day, said in his speech at the opening of the conference that in the past two decades, Ethiopia's health policy has focused on community health promotion, disease prevention and improving health service coverage. He said that there were many successes. Currently, not only communicable diseases, but also non-communicable diseases and accidents have increased significantly, so the demand for high-quality treatment has also increased, so the Ministry of Health is working to improve the access and quality of tertiary care services in all parts of the country.
Dr. Ayele said that “while improvements are being seen in the coverage and quality of medical services provided by our hospitals, there are still many gaps in terms of the society's needs”. He explained that due to the composition and distribution of health professionals, the flow and efficiency of service delivery, the management system of medical equipment, the interruption and waste of resources and many other gaps in the health system, it is still not possible to deliver customer satisfaction to the desired level.
He said that in order to improve and solve this problem in a sustainable way, including the establishment of a strong health system, the implementation of an effective resource utilization system and the use of new creative ideas and technology, as well as working in cooperation with foreign and domestic partners.
Dr. Ayele stated that the Ministry of Health has prepared a road map to improve the access and quality of tertiary care health services and has started implementing them around selected and prioritized health problems. In this regard, he sent a message to the professionals union to play its part.
The President of the Ethiopian Internal Medicine Association, Dr. Sisay Sargu, said that the Internal Medicine Association is committed to protecting the professional rights of its members, working to improve the knowledge, understanding and skills of its members, to maintain the quality of internal medicine and to bring it up to date, and to provide professional ethical service to the community with the support of national scientific research and study. It is an association that aims to work in cooperation with governmental and non-governmental institutions working in the health sector. In order to achieve these objectives, in addition to the main executive, he has organized 16 branch offices and strengthened the capacity of the members, facilitating post-graduate training and continuing professional development training, and doing a series of support work on the implementation of training.
This year's conference will be held under the main theme of "Tertiary care in Ethiopia challenges & opportunities" and a broad presentation will be given on two health problems and treatments selected by experts who have experience in various fields of internal medicine. Dr. Sisay said that three research results will be presented and effective discussion will be conducted to set directions for further work.
Internal Medicine Graduate Resident Physicians who achieved outstanding results from the medical school were awarded at the forum. A forum of drug, resource and service provider partner organizations related to internal medicine was also held.