Dr. Selamawit Girma Alemu

Dr. Selamawit Girma Alemu is a specialist in Obstetrics and Gynecology at St. Paul's Hospital Millennium Medical College in Addis Ababa, one of Ethiopia's two premier public teaching hospitals. With 14 years of practice, she has developed a strong reputation as a clinician of remarkable skill and compassion, particularly in managing the high-stakes obstetric emergencies and complex gynecological conditions that are central to women's health challenges in Ethiopia.

Dr. Alemu is widely recognised for her expertise in obstetric fistula repair — a surgical specialty of profound importance in Ethiopia, which carries one of the highest obstetric fistula burdens in the world due to inadequate access to skilled birth attendance and emergency obstetric care in rural areas. Her surgical work restores continence and dignity to women who have suffered this devastating complication of prolonged or obstructed labour. She trained at Jimma University for her medical degree and completed her postgraduate MMed in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Addis Ababa University, gaining experience in a high-volume obstetric environment.

Fluent in Amharic, Oromo, and English, Dr. Alemu can communicate directly with patients from the country's two largest linguistic communities — an asset in a country where language barriers often prevent women from seeking or completing obstetric care. She is an active member of the Ethiopian Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ESOG) and participates in national maternal health policy discussions.

Dr. Alemu completed her undergraduate medical degree at Jimma University in Oromia Region — one of Ethiopia's most respected medical schools and home to a large teaching hospital serving a densely populated catchment area. This gave her early exposure to a high-volume, resource-constrained clinical environment with significant obstetric caseloads. She subsequently moved to Addis Ababa University for her Master of Medicine in Obstetrics and Gynecology, where she received comprehensive training in normal and operative obstetrics, gynecological surgery including laparoscopic techniques, oncological gynecology, and obstetric fistula repair through Addis Ababa University's established fistula surgery training programme. Her training equipped her for the full spectrum of obstetric and gynecological practice required in Ethiopia's demanding hospital setting.

Dr. Alemu's clinical expertise spans the full scope of obstetrics and gynecology. In obstetrics, she manages high-risk pregnancies including those complicated by eclampsia and pre-eclampsia, gestational diabetes, antepartum haemorrhage, and multiple gestation. She conducts both spontaneous deliveries and operative deliveries by caesarean section, including emergency caesarean for fetal distress, obstructed labour, placenta praevia, and uterine rupture. Her experience in managing acute obstetric emergencies — postpartum haemorrhage, eclamptic seizures, and shoulder dystocia — makes her a critical presence in St. Paul's labour ward.

In gynecology, Dr. Alemu performs minimally invasive laparoscopic procedures for diagnostic assessment and treatment of conditions including endometriosis, ovarian cysts, ectopic pregnancy, and pelvic inflammatory disease. She conducts hysterectomies for benign and oncological indications, including abdominal, vaginal, and laparoscopic approaches. Her fistula repair surgery follows the internationally established techniques for vesico-vaginal and recto-vaginal fistula closure, restoring urinary and bowel continence to women who have often suffered for years. She is also involved in cervical cancer screening programmes at St. Paul's, performing colposcopy, cervical biopsies, and LEEP procedures, and she manages early-stage gynecological cancers in collaboration with the oncology team.

Dr. Alemu has contributed to research on obstetric fistula outcomes published in the Ethiopian Medical Journal and presented at ESOG's annual conferences. She has participated in multi-centre studies examining maternal mortality determinants and caesarean section rates in Ethiopian referral hospitals. She has also collaborated with international NGO partners including the Hamlin Fistula Foundation on data collection and outcome reporting for fistula repair programmes. Her research interests include risk factors for obstructed labour in Ethiopian women and barriers to early access to emergency obstetric care in rural and peri-urban communities.

St. Paul's Hospital Millennium Medical College receives referrals from across Ethiopia and from the Ethiopian diaspora visiting Addis Ababa for specialist gynecological care. Dr. Alemu conducts consultations in English and can prepare comprehensive medical reports for international patients. She sees diaspora women seeking evaluation for gynecological conditions — including uterine fibroids, ovarian conditions, and cervical abnormalities — who prefer specialist care in Ethiopia while visiting family. Video pre-consultations are available to review investigations and discuss management options before a patient's arrival in Addis Ababa. She can also provide second opinions on complex obstetric or gynecological cases referred from hospitals in neighbouring countries including Eritrea, South Sudan, and Somalia, where specialist women's health capacity is limited.

Dr. Alemu has been recognised by the Ethiopian Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ESOG) for her outstanding contributions to maternal health and her leadership in obstetric fistula repair surgery — a discipline requiring both technical mastery and patient advocacy. She was commended by St. Paul's Hospital clinical leadership for her service during periods of high obstetric case surges. Her multilingual ability — spanning Amharic, Oromo, and English — has been specifically acknowledged as a key asset in reducing communication barriers for women from diverse regions of Ethiopia seeking care at the hospital.