A Brantford doctor fled Ethiopia decades ago. Now he’s helping the country with emergency medicine
By Fallon Hewitt Reporter for the Hamilton Spectator
Dr. Fikre Germa, a physician at Brant Community Healthcare System (BCHS), was recently recognized by Ethiopian President Taye Atske Selassie for advancing knowledge and contributing to the improvement of health care for the people of Ethiopia and East Africa.
A Brantford General Hospital physician whose grassroots advocacy helped bring emergency medicine to Ethiopia has been honoured by his home country.
Dr. Fikre Germa recently received a certificate of recognition from Ethiopian President Taye Atske Selassie for his more than two decades of work in “advancing knowledge, action, and practice in improving the global health-care system,” as well as his volunteer service in assisting Ethiopians.
Germa told The Spectator the honour was “unexpected,” noting he never imagined being recognized by the current president of the country his family was forced to flee following the 1974 revolution, where academics, like his father, were targeted.
“For me to go back and be able to give back, it has been very redeeming and … very worthwhile,” said Germa, who came to Canada as an immigrant in 1987.
Germa said he started his advocacy work in Ethiopia in the mid-2000s, at a time when his home country was undergoing a period of “rapid urbanization,” yet medical schools there offered no formal emergency medicine training and there was no infrastructure for emergency medicine.
“I felt very strongly that emergency medical infrastructure is so critical, especially for global health security, because that’s the first point of contact. It’s the backbone of the health-care system."
Germa knew things had to change, and he, with the help of his Canadian colleagues, could be the one to help make it happen.
Germa used his connections with People to People, a charity that supports health programs in Ethiopia, and the Ethiopian North American Health Professional Association (ENAHPA), an organization that aims to improve health-care standards, emergency care and knowledge sharing.
As vice-president of the association, Germa spent 2006 to 2010 helping co-ordinate ENAHPA’s continuing medical education program in emergency medicine, sponsoring several physicians and a paramedic for training in Canada.
Germa likened that work to “developing a bridge” between the two countries, with those efforts seeing his Canadian colleagues volunteering their time to travel to Ethiopia to teach emergency medicine practices.
“Our role was not to parachute into Ethiopia and tell them what to do,” said Germa, who noted the work would not have been possible without support from his colleagues. “It was to develop a partnership and exchange ideas and share best practices.”
That work was transformational in Ethiopia, said Germa, noting Canadians helped develop basic hospital procedures such as triage systems for patient flow and introduced the use of ultrasounds to allow emergency doctors to offer bedside diagnostics.
Emergency medicine has also grown into its own academic discipline in Ethiopia, noted Germa, with those studies including a residency program at Addis Ababa University in collaboration with the University of Toronto.
Germa said the motivation for helping to make change to medical care in Ethiopia was about dignity and personal responsibility, noting he had been “given an opportunity to succeed” and felt the privilege should be shared with his home country.
“So many people were suffering,” Germa said. “We could make a difference, not in the form of being paternalistic, but really in building institutions that will make a difference … that both Canadians and Ethiopians can be proud of.”
Now, the hospitalist and family physician is looking to turn his advocacy toward improving geriatric medicine training in his home country, pointing to his father’s diagnosis with Parkinson’s disease.
Germa is also looking to continue pushing against the past negative narratives around Ethiopia, moving them toward those of potential collaboration, capacity building and mutual benefits — especially for Canadians.
“Education for me is about solving problems and creating space for shared understanding,” Germa said. “I’m very proud to be Canadian. I’m proud to be Ethiopian and I’m proud to do this work.”
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