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The organization expressed its solidarity with the Haitian people in the face of unprecedented daily acts of cruelty, whether rape, torture or attempted murder.
On Friday, the organization Doctors Without Borders announced the indefinite suspension of health care at the Turgeau emergency center, in the heart of the Haitian capital, following the murder of a patient.
According to the organization press release, the incident occurred last Tuesday around 16:00 local time, when a group of armed individuals stopped an MSF ambulance outside the Turgeau emergency center, forced the patient out and shot him several times before fleeing.
"A seriously wounded man was admitted to the MSF Emergency Center in Turgeau, a district near the center of Port-au-Prince. The patient was in critical condition and the medical team decided to transfer him to a hospital offering specialized care," MSF management explained.
He added that the medical convoy, consisting of two ambulances, was attacked a few meters from the health center by about ten armed individuals. They came out of an alley and blocked the convoy, hit the hood of the vehicle and fired gunshots into the air, before inspecting its interior.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) a suspendu indéfiniment ses opérations au Centre d’Urgence de Turgeau, suite à l'attaque perpétrée contre l'une de ses ambulances par un groupe armé le 12 décembre 2023, comme l'a annoncé l'organisation dans un communiqué. pic.twitter.com/RpqVjbzbxh
— Haïti Express (@HaitiExpressnet) December 14, 2023
The tweet reads, "Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has suspended its operations at the Turgeau Emergency Center indefinitely, following the attack on one of its ambulances by an armed group on December 12, 2023, the organization announced in a press release."
They then ordered the second ambulance to reverse while pulling the patient out of the first ambulance, beat him and shot him several times at point-blank range before escaping, they testified.
Furthermore, the head of the MFS mission in Haiti, Benoît Vasseur, recalled that in order to fulfill their mission, medical teams need a minimum of security and cannot operate if the integrity of their institutions is under any threat. "In order to be able to work, MSF needs its medical institutions, its staff and its patients to be respected and protected," he assured.
The organization expressed solidarity with the Haitian people in the face of unprecedented daily acts of cruelty, whether rape, torture or attempted murder.
In the middle of this year, MSF temporarily suspended its services at the Tabarre hospital in the capital, following an armed raid by some twenty people who kidnapped a patient while he was in the operating room.
At the time, the organization condemned the aggression and noted that it once again demonstrates the unprecedented level of violence currently being experienced in Port-au-Prince, while announcing the interruption of all its trauma and burn care activities.
It also had to temporarily close Drouillard hospital in April 2022 and permanently close the doors of its emergency center in Martissant in June 2021, while suspending its support to Raoul Pierre Louis de Carrefour hospital in January 2023 for security reasons.
As the situation worsened, MSF called on the various parties to the conflict to respect medical structures so that they can continue to play their role. The security crisis in Haiti worsened following the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse two years ago, and gangs now control more than 80% of the capital.
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