It was in a context of “extremely violent clashes” at the gates of its Port-au-Prince hospital in Cité Soleil that Médecins Sans Frontières decided to temporarily close. “We are living through scenes of war a few meters from our establishment,” testifies an MSF medical adviser in Haiti.
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Urban violence is not abating in Haiti, on the contrary. On a daily basis, gangs clash, murders, kidnappings and rapes multiply, and the number of injured is growing. It is in this context that Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has decided to temporarily close its hospital in Cité Soleil, an announcement made in a press release dated March 9, 2023.
“Several stray bullets were found inside the hospital” laments the management, and “some patients were injured near the structure”.
We live scenes of war a few meters from our establishment. Our hospital was not directly targeted, but has been impacted by the fighting since it found itself on the front line. We are aware that the closure of this hospital will seriously harm the inhabitants of Cité Soleil, but our teams cannot work without security guarantees.
Vincent Harris – MSF medical referent
Doctors Without Borders is a international humanitarian medical association created in 1971 in Paris, by practitioners and journalists. She has received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999 and currently has 41,000 members in the field.
Present in Haiti for more than 30 years, it “calls for a cessation of hostilities” at the gates of the hospital at the very least and at “respect for the medical mission”, so that they can resume their activities.
The organization is alarmed by the vertiginous deterioration of the security situation throughout the Haitian capital and the growing precariousness it entails, while the populations are facing increasingly significant humanitarian and health needs.
Since 2022, the recurrence of violence of all kindsfuels the concerns of the Association.
Our teams were able to observe the crying needs of the many displaced people, constantly exposed to stray bullets, in deplorable hygienic conditions, while access to drinking water is very limited (…). Our teams continue to treat victims of violence and burns in Tabarre, victims of sexual violence in their clinic in Delmas 33 and in Artibonite, victims of serious accidents in the emergency center in Turgeau, pregnant women and their babies. in the South department or populations affected by urban violence thanks to mobile clinics.
Doctors Without Borders
With the intensification and extension of fighting between armed groups, “the entire population of the capital is facing an untenable situation” adds MSF.
