Health Service Provider as victim of violence
The health worker supported his family by the income he earned. There was no worry about how to manage the family affair. The family had sufficient food and shelter to sustain them. Family members share daily routine with confidence that life continues as usual. Children attend school; their mother cares and protects them to grow as decent citizens. The elderly among extended family live with care respected for their age and counseling that helped retain harmony in the family. That way a family in Bosat District of West Shawa Zone lived in peace on income of the Health Worker; the family head.
Nevertheless, the stable and peaceful family life was lost when the Health Worker, Jemal Miesso Bunaa, was killed by armed assailants en route to the Health Station. He was killed after he was transferred to a locality called Chamarri. His wife narrates the story with grief under the circumstance she is left alone without any other means of survival for the family.
Raisa Faqo is frustrated about how to sustain the family – children and elderly- alone. She says, “It is difficult to imagine the extent of hardship we face today. He left his family alone under the circumstance he never expected. Only we, the affected family, know the extent of hardship we experience.” She is extremely worried of uncertain future.
Jemal Miesso was killed under undisclosed circumstance unaware of what could happen to him. It is quite normal to commute between home and place of work for any employee. As a civilian educated and trained to serve the community, a threat to his life could be a remote occurrence. After all, he served everybody with his knowledge and skill something not attached to any discrimination or bias, which may otherwise lead to grudge or revenge. The only new development to him was his accepting transfer to a new locality probably unaware of security status of the area.
On the other hand, once an act of crime is committed, there is an obligation to investigate it. There is a sector entrusted to do that in order to maintain law and order. It is duty of the state to respect, protect and fulfill Human Rights. When an act of crime as serious as life lost is left unheeded, public trust eventually erodes. Justice should be served in a society where there is law and order. The killing of such health professionals would have far reaching consequences not only to the immediate family members but also the wider community seeking health service in the area.