(Port-Au-Prince) Haiti’s new Prime Minister Garry Conille and the Haitian police chief visited the capital’s largest hospital on Tuesday after authorities announced they had regained control of the medical facility, which had fallen into the hands of armed gangs.
Haitian police chief Normil Rameau said at a news conference Monday that police took control of the State University of Haiti hospital, known as the Port-au-Prince General Hospital, on Sunday night after months of escalating attacks by armed groups.
Mr. Normil proclaimed that “one fine morning, the population will wake up and see the bandits hunted down, arrested and neutralized.” He did not, however, respond to questions from the media.
He was accompanied by Kenyan officer Godfrey Otunge, who said the UN-backed Kenyan police contingent intended to work closely with Haitian authorities as well as local and international partners dedicated to rebuilding Haiti.
PHOTO ODELYN JOSEPH, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Haiti’s new Prime Minister Garry Conille (center) and Haitian police chief Normil Rameau (left)
The green and white hospital was gutted by gangs, with beds stripped and ceiling fans on the floor. The interior of the building was left with debris and light fixtures lying around.
The walls of the hospital and nearby buildings were riddled with bullets, indicating fighting between police and neighborhood gangs. The hospital is directly across from the National Palace, which has been the scene of several battles in the past five months.
Mr Conille compared the building to “a war zone”.
Council member Louis Gérald Gilles was also present during Tuesday’s visit and announced that the hospital should be fully operational by February 2026. Conille said the hospital served about 1,500 people a day before falling under the gang’s control.
This hospital is not for the rich, it is for the poor. These are people who need serious help and cannot go to a private doctor.
Garry Conille, Haitian Prime Minister
Attacks by criminal groups have pushed Haiti’s health system to the brink of collapse, and escalating violence has led to an increase in the number of patients with serious illnesses, in addition to a lack of resources to treat them.
Gangs have looted, burned and destroyed medical facilities and pharmacies in the capital, where they control up to 80 percent of the area.
PHOTO CLARENS SIFFROY, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Haiti’s health system, already struggling before the violence, faces additional challenges from the rainy season, which threatens to worsen conditions and increase the risk of waterborne diseases.
Poor hygiene conditions in camps and makeshift settlements have increased the risk of diseases such as cholera, with more than 84,000 suspected cases in the country, according to a UNICEF report.
In addition to the hospital, gunmen seized police stations, attacked the main international airport (which was closed for nearly three months) and stormed Haiti’s two largest prisons.
In April, officials at a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Haiti told The Associated Press that staff had been forced to cut the number of outpatients they treated daily from 150 to 50. People lined up outside the hospital each day for medical care and were at risk of being shot by gang members at any time.
According to a report by the UN migration agency, violence in Haiti has displaced nearly 580,000 people since March.