Doctors Without Borders announced Friday that it has suspended treatment at one of its hospitals in Haiti after some 20 armed men burst into an operating room and snatched a patient.
The incident occurred late Thursday at the Tabarre hospital in the capital of Port-au-Prince shortly after the patient was admitted with gunshot wounds.
The organization said two men faked a life-threatening emergency to gain access to the hospital, and that the armed group stormed in when the gate was opened.
“The medical staff, who fight daily to save lives, are shocked by this violence and the contempt shown by these armed groups toward them,” the aid group said in a statement.
The announcement comes amid a surge in killings and shootings across Port-au-Prince and beyond as gangs become more powerful and fight for control over territory since the July 7, 2021 killing of President Jovenel Moïse.
The growing insecurity has forced Doctors Without Borders to take similar action in recent years. In January, it suspended help to a hospital in the Carrefour neighborhood of Port-au-Prince. In April 2022, it temporarily closed another hospital, and in June 2021, it permanently closed an emergency clinic in the Martissant neighborhood, where much of the gang violence has been reported.
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