Haiti trauma hospital suspends services after armed men drag patient out of operating room
.jpg "The intensive care unit of Doctors Without Borders’ Tabarre hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The majority of patients in intensive care have bullet or stab wounds that need surgery and post-operative care.")
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières is suspending all treatment at its trauma facility in the Haitian capital after approximately 20 armed men stormed its hospital in Tabarre.
The incident occurred Thursday night after a patient was admitted due to severe injuries from gunshots, the medical charity said in a statement.
While the man was in surgery, two men arrived at the hospital, feigning a life-threatening emergency. When the gate was opened to let them in, about 20 masked gunmen stormed into the facility, entered the operating room and seized the wounded patient.
The incident is the latest involving armed men forcing their way into one of the charity’s medical facilities in Haiti, forcing it to halt medical care. Over the past two years, the organization, known for its work in conflicts and war zones, has announced the temporary suspension of operations at its Drouillard healthcare facility in the sprawling Cité Soleil slum in Port-au-Prince after permanently closing the door of its facility in the Martissant neighborhood on the outskirts of the capital in June 2021. In January, it also suspended its support for the Raoul Pierre Louis hospital in Carrefour for security reasons.
The Tabarre hospital is one of the few places Haitians can go for trauma care. It’s also the only specialized hospital for burns in Haiti.
.jpg "MSB109787(High).jpg")
“There is such contempt for human life among the conflicting parties, and such violence in Port-au-Prince, that even the vulnerable, sick and wounded are not spared,” said Mahaman Bachard Iro, head of MSF’s programs in Haiti. “How are we, the health workers, supposed to be able to continue providing care in this environment?
“We must first understand what has happened and give our abused medical staff some respite, because these men threatened to kill them,” Iro said. “To this end, we have decided to suspend our activities for the time being, in order to assess the conditions for a potential resumption.”
The incident demonstrates the unprecedented level of violence in Port-au-Prince, and particularly in Tabarre, where armed men last month kidnapped prominent journalist Marie Lucie Bonhomme out of her home in the middle of the night. Tend days later they abducted her husband, the former head of the Provisional Electoral Council, Pierre-Louis Opont. He remains in captivity.
On Friday, Opont’s family launched a desperate appeal for his release, saying they hope their request “will touch the hearts of his captors, who will realize the pain they also inflict on his distraught family and friends.”
MSF says the series of security incidents affecting its medical teams in Haiti call into question the organization’s ability to continue to run medical programs in Port-au-Prince.
The charity says it is calling on the various parties to the conflicts in Port-au-Prince to respect medical facilities so that they can continue to function.
This story was originally published July 8, 2023 at 10:09 AM.
