Haitian hospital reopens after deadly confrontation

A hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, reopened last week after it was forced to shut down in December because of a wave of gang violence affecting the Caribbean country.

A hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, reopened last week after it was forced to shut down in December because of a wave of gang violence affecting the Caribbean country.

Dr. James Gana of Doctors Without Borders told NBC News that the Doctors Without Borders Emergency Center in Port-au-Prince's Turgeau district had to close after medical staff members tending to an arriving ambulance were confronted by armed men.

“The ambulance was surrounded by armed men who forced open the ambulance and executed the patient,” he said. “This was meters away from our hospital.”

Gana said the rise in violence pressured him to reopen the hospital and see as many patients as he could. Before the execution in December, he would see 80 to 100 patients a day. But with the escalating violence leaving patients fearful of seeking medical care, he said, he sees only about 30 or 40 people a day at the reopened medical center.

The bloodshed has been rising since 2021, when Haiti’s president was assassinated and armed gangs filled the power vacuum. But this month, a mass prison break and the resulting chaos have effectively shut down most of the country. 

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/haitian-hospital-reopens-deadly-confrontation-gang-rcna142859

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