Yekatit 12 Hospital Medical College

Health and medical education

Yekatit 12 is a public hospital that became a medical college. The hospital opened in 1923 as Bete Sayida (Teferi Mekonnen) Hospital. It was renamed in 1937 to commemorate the victims of that year's massacre in Addis Ababa by Italian fascist troops. In 2011 it became a medical college and research centre, and it now offers clinical and academic services side by side. The college's own Facebook page tells the same story: one of the country's first modern hospitals, teaching medicine since 2011.

Medicine

The Doctor of Medicine is the college's main programme. Sources give slightly different start dates:

• The college: a December 2019 news post on the hospital's Telegram channel says it began training medical students in 2003 E.C. (2010/11) and had by then graduated three classes.
• The World Directory of Medical Schools: gives 2012 as the year instruction began and lists graduation years from 2017.

Yekatit 12's MD has something no other Addis Ababa school can yet show: a place on the Education and Training Authority's (ETA) new online register. The medicine programme is provisionally accredited under certificate ETA-000005, issued on 29 May 2025 and valid until 28 May 2028. The register lists it under the misspelling "Yetatit 12". When we checked on 4 November 2026 the register held only 13 accreditations nationwide, four of them for medicine. The others were Arsi, Arba Minch and Debre Berhan.

Residencies and postgraduate training

The same 2019 post marked two firsts. The college admitted its first class of resident doctors that year, placed through the national Ethiopian Residency Matching Program after a competitive entrance exam. Its community health department had also just launched master's degree programmes "in various fields". The post did not name them. The college runs an obstetrics and gynaecology residency: Wikipedia mentions a second-year OB/GYN resident there in 2022. We could not find a current published list of its specialties or master's programmes. The registrar's online academic calendar has separate tracks for undergraduate, postgraduate and subspecialty programmes.

The hospital

Yekatit 12 Hospital is a specialised public hospital. Sources disagree on its size:

• Wikipedia gives 456 beds.
• A 2025 PLOS ONE study of the hospital describes 385 beds, 36 departments and more than 1,500 clinical, academic and support staff, serving a population of about 4 million. The same study reports that electronic medical records are used across all service areas except ART clinics.

Ask the college for current figures.

Rankings

Yekatit 12 does not appear on EduRank's medicine, nursing or public health lists for Ethiopia, or on uniRank. Those lists rank universities by research output, and standalone hospital colleges are generally missing from them.

The institution

The college sits at Sidist Kilo, close to Addis Ababa University's main campus. It is a public institution. Its main website (y12hmc.edu.et) returned a server error when we checked in November 2026. The registrar's Student Information System at sis.y12hmc.edu.et was working. It handles online admission, application tracking, transcript requests, graduation verification and alumni registration. When we checked it said "the date for online admission is closed", which suggests the college runs at least part of its admission online. We found no published tuition figures or intake numbers.

Like St. Paul's, Yekatit 12 is one of a small group of hospital-based medical colleges in Addis Ababa rather than part of a university. That is why it is missing from the university rankings. It also means the college and its main teaching hospital are the same institution, so ask how much of your clinical training happens there and how much elsewhere.

The Facebook page (about 34,000 followers) is the most active official channel we found. It lists the phone number and email above. We also saw Telegram channels using the Yekatit 12 name. One is a small channel created in October 2026 that mixes admission-exam tips with tutoring adverts. The other is a hospital channel that has been inactive since 2019. Neither is clearly an official college channel, so we have not listed them.

Before you apply

• Check the accreditation certificate. Ask to see ETA certificate ETA-000005 for the MD, and note that it is provisional and runs to May 2028.
• Confirm how you get in. It is unclear from public sources whether undergraduate places come through national placement or the college's own application. The registrar's portal has an online admission page, so ask the registrar directly.
• Use the Facebook page for contact. The main website was down when we checked. Confirm the phone number by calling before you rely on it.
• Ask which residencies and master's programmes are open this year. The college does not publish a current list online.
• Visit the hospital. As a 1923 hospital in central Addis Ababa, Yekatit 12 offers a long clinical tradition. Check how ward space is shared between medical students, residents and other trainees.