Key hospital in central Haiti closes due to gang violence

A top hospital in Haiti is closing its doors due to worsening insecurity after gangs attacked the central city of Mirebalais, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters on Tuesday, marking another blow to the country's fragile health sector.

The hospital had effectively closed at the start of April, the University Hospital of Mirebalais' deputy executive director Pierre-Marie Cherenfant told Reuters, when it began transferring patients out to other hospitals in the area.

The hospital in the city some 55 km (34 miles) northeast of capital Port-au-Prince had operated as a reference hospital for patients, providing affordable care for difficult cases ranging from COVID-19 to advanced cancer treatments.

Partners in Health, which set up the hospital more than a decade ago, said on its website the hospital counted 300 beds and typically saw some 850 patients per day from around the country.

UHM began transferring patients after the powerful Viv Ansanm gang alliance began attacking Mirebalais at the end of March, when gang members broke some 500 inmates out of prison.

Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) also recently halted services around the capital to the end of June, citing a targeted shooting against one of its transport vehicles.

Armed gangs have made strong gains in the first part of this year, in the face of struggling local security forces and limited international support, driving up violence and forcing tens of thousands more residents from their homes.

The United Nations estimated in October that less than a quarter of health facilities in and around the capital were in operation.

On Monday, the U.N.'s special representative to the country, Maria Isabel Salvador, told the Security Council that without "sufficient and predictable funding, even a minimal U.N. presence may become unsustainable."