On a recent morning at a hospital deep in the Haitian capital’s gang territory, a woman began convulsing before her body went limp, as a doctor and two nurses rushed to save her.
They placed electrodes on his chest and turned on an oxygen machine while keeping his eyes glued to a computer screen that displayed a dangerously low oxygen level of 84 percent.
Nobody knew what was wrong with her.
Even more worrying, the Doctors Without Borders hospital in the Cité Soleil slum was running out of essential drugs to treat seizures.
“The medications she really needs are barely available,” lamented Dr. Rachel Lavigne, a doctor with the medical aid organization.
It’s a familiar scene repeated daily in Port-au-Prince’s hospitals and clinics, where life-saving drugs and equipment are dwindling, if at all, as brutal gangs tighten their grip on the capital and beyond. They blocked roads, forced the closure of the main international airport in early March and paralyzed operations at the country’s largest seaport, where containers full of essential supplies remain stuck.
“Everything is falling apart,” denounced Dr. Lavigne.
Haiti’s health system has long been fragile, but is now on the brink of total collapse since gangs launched coordinated attacks on February 29, targeting critical infrastructure in the capital and beyond.
The violence forced several medical institutions and dialysis centers to close, including Haiti’s largest public hospital. Located in the center of Port-au-Prince, the hospital of the State University of Haiti was scheduled to reopen on 1er April after being closed at the start of the attack, but gangs infiltrated it.
The University of Peace Hospital, located south of the closed airport, is one of the few institutions still in operation. From February 29 to April 15, the hospital treated some 200 patients with gunshot wounds, and its beds remain occupied.
“We urgently need fuel because we run on generators. Otherwise, we risk closing our doors,” warned the hospital director, Doctor Paul Junior Fontilus, in a press release.
More than 2,500 people were killed or injured in Haiti between January and March, an increase of more than 50% compared to the same period last year, according to a recent United Nations report.
Even if a hospital is open, there are sometimes few or no medical staff, as gang violence erupts daily in Port-au-Prince, forcing doctors and nurses to stay home or flee. turn if they encounter roads blocked by heavily armed men.
The spiral of chaos has left increasing numbers of patients with cancer, AIDS and other serious illnesses without recourse. The gangs also loot and burn pharmacies in the capital’s city center.
Doctors Without Borders has run out of medications to treat diabetes and hypertension, and asthma inhalers, which help prevent fatal attacks, are nowhere to be found in the capital, Dr. Lavigne said.
At the Médecins Sans Frontières hospital, medical staff recently tried to save a boy suffering from a severe asthma attack by giving him oxygen. It didn’t work, nor did any other type of medication. Eventually, they ended up injecting him with adrenaline, which is used in emergency situations to treat anaphylactic shock.
“We improvise and we do our best for the people here,” explained Dr. Lavigne.
According to Jacob Burns, project coordinator at Médecins Sans Frontières, residents’ health is worsening because the daily medications needed to treat their chronic illnesses are not available.
“The illness becomes acute and they have no other options,” he said. For some people, there are very, very few options right now. »
Despite the pressing need for medical care, the Médecins Sans Frontières hospital in Cité Soleil has been forced to reduce the number of outpatients treated daily from 150 to 50, according to Jacob Burns, although all emergencies are covered.
Every day, dozens of people queue outside the hospital and risk being shot by members of the gangs who control the area, while they wait for medical treatment.
Everyone is allowed to enter the hospital grounds, but medical staff are setting up a triage system to determine the fifty people who will be treated. People with less urgent needs are asked to come back another day, Burns said.
On average, the Cité Soleil hospital receives three injured people per day, but sometimes up to 14, depending on the staff.
Recently, five people with gunshot wounds arrived at the hospital after spending all night inside a public bus that could not move because of heavy gunfire, Burns said.
“Cité Soleil has long been the epicenter of violence. Today, violence is so widespread that it has become a problem for everyone,” he lamented.