Mesfin Araya MD.
Dr. Mesfin Araya has been educated at the Addis Ababa University as a Medical Doctor. After that, he studied Psychiatry in St. Petersburg (Leningrad). Coming back to Ethiopia he has developed the Amanuel Hospital for Mental Health from a Stone-age Institution where one single Bulgarian Doctor had to take care for hundreds of chained patients, into a facility where patients are taken care of in modern ways, in touch with mainstream Psychiatry and Psychotherapy. Amanuel hospital nouw treats inpatients as wel as outpatiens, and serves not only Ethiopia but also the south of Sudan.
Dr. Mesfin Araya has also assisted in the set up of a system of Psychiatric Nursing in all the main hospitals all over Ethiopia, through which basic Mental Health Care is available widely, with a referral system in which Amanuel Hospital is the Center.
Also Dr. Mesfin Araya is teaching Psychiatry at the Addis Ababa University.
After contact with Dr. R. Giel from the Netherlands, who did considerable work on transcultural Psychiatry in Ethiopia and elsewhere, Dr. Mesfin Aray studied Transcultural Psychiatry in Groningen, the Netherlands.
In '95 Dr. Mesfin Araya stepped down as the director
of Amanuel Hospital, where however he still sees patients.
He speaks Amharic (the official language in Ethiopia),
Tigray (also spoken in Eritrea), Russian, English and Dutch.
Dr. Mesfin Araya is the Director of the TPO-AAU-Ethiopia Program since '96.
He, and the program, can be reached through email:
Dr.mesfin.araya@telecom.net.et