Haiti: MSF Partially Resumes Medical Activities in Port-au-Prince
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is partially resuming its medical activities in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area after a 22-day suspension caused by repeated threats and violence against its staff and patients.
The decision to suspend MSF’s activities, even temporarily, was extremely difficult because the city is heavily affected by violence, and the medical needs are immense. Thousands of people are seeking basic healthcare, while the health system is weakened by violence and mass displacement. The few remaining public and private facilities are overwhelmed by the growing needs, leaving many people without any option for care.
However, the seriousness of the attacks against MSF’s staff and ambulances forced the organisation to take this step.
MSF is now resuming activities thanks to a constructive dialogue with key stakeholders and involvement by the authorities to ensure respect for our teams and our medical mission. Nevertheless, the risk for our teams and patients remains high, particularly in ambulances. As a result, our transportation of patients remains suspended for now, and Turgeau Hospital remains closed, because it can only operate when we can safely transfer patients to other facilities when needed.
Today, we are reopening the Tabarre, Carrefour and Cité Soleil hospitals and the Pran Men'm clinic.
MSF is calling again for all parties to respect our staff, patients, and medical facilities, which is essential for our activities to continue.
“These past three weeks have been especially painful,” said Jean-Marc Biquet, MSF head of mission in Haiti. “We had to suspend admissions of new patients, fully aware that many were unable to access the care they desperately needed. We are continuing our efforts to ensure that it is safe enough to fully resume our activities. Despite the commitments made by the authorities, the risks remain high, and our ability to continue our work in Haiti is uncertain as we move ahead. We call on all parties to respect our medical and humanitarian mission so that we can respond to medical needs to the full extent of our capacity.
Our activities resuming as of 11 December 2024:
Tabarre trauma centre
- Emergency medical and surgical care, including trauma and burn treatment.
- Outpatient care for wound dressing, physiotherapy, and physical rehabilitation.
- Surgical procedures for trauma and burns.
- Physiotherapy sessions and 3D compression masks for burn patients.
Drouillard hospital
- Intensive and emergency care, including trauma and obstetric emergencies.
- Hospital admissions in paediatrics and adult internal medicine.
- Outpatient consultations.
- Support and care for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence.
Carrefour hospital
- Emergency trauma care.
- Trauma surgery.
- Trauma care and hospital admission.
- Specialised trauma consultations.
- Mental health support.
- Physiotherapy.
Pran Men'm clinic and Carrefour maternity hospital
- Support for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence.
- Medical care.
- Psychological support.
- Social assistance.
Water, sanitation, and hygiene services
- Access to drinkable water and latrine installation in displaced persons’ sites.
- Health and hygiene awareness.
Isaïe Jeanty maternity hospital
- Construction and rehabilitation.
Our services that are still suspended as of 11 Dec 2024:
Patient transport via ambulance and services at the Turgeau hospital remain suspended until further notice due to the current security context.
Violent clashes in the central neighborhood of Bel Air in Port-au-Prince on the 28 of February provoked the arrival of 92 bullet-wounded patients at the MSF Emergency Center of Turgeau in the space of a week. | Date taken: 03/03/2023 | Photographer: Alexandre Marcou | Location: Haiti
MSF medical team accompanied by health promoters are deployed once a week in the village of Rendel, a dozen kilometre north of Port-a-Piment, Haiti. February 2023. | Date taken: 09/02/2023 | Photographer: Alexandre Marcou | Location: Haiti
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Read more about our activities in Haiti
Nkosi Mahlangu
About Doctors Without Borders (MSF)
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is a global network of principled medical and other professionals who specialise in medical humanitarian work, driven by our common humanity and guided by medical ethics. We strive to bring emergency medical care to people caught in conflicts, crises, and disasters in more than 70 countries worldwide.
In South Africa, the organisation is recognised as one of the pioneers of providing Antiretroviral Treatment (ART) in the public sector and started the first HIV programmes in South Africa in 1999. Until today, the focus of MSF’s interventions in the country has primarily been on developing new testing and treatment strategies for HIV/AIDS and TB in Eshowe (Kwa-Zulu Natal) and Khayelitsha (Western Cape).
In Tshwane, we run a migration project, and we offer medical and psychosocial care to migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers, who struggle to access public health services under South Africa’s increasingly restrictive.
Previously we offered free, high-quality, confidential medical care to survivors of SGBV in Rustenburg.
To learn more about our work in South Africa, please visit this page on our website (www.msf.org.za). To support MSF’s work:
- SMS “JOIN” to 42110 to donate R30 Once-off
- Visit https://www.msf.org.za/donate