Living on garbage. Spending a night enduring a bullet for fear of going to a health center and dying trying. Run away from the windows because you never know if a shot will come through there. Water, missing. And if there is, it is not enough or it is not useful. Hospitals are closed because a “war” surrounds them. People lost their homes. And there are 360 thousand displaced people...
Haiti, once again, is sinking into hell
, and no one seems to be watching.
“There are many humanitarian crises in the world right now, but here what we are seeing is a crisis as acute as those, but
without the contribution of the international community
in the way it should be,”
the surgeon laments in an interview with
Clarín .
James Gana
, from Port-au-Prince.
Dr. James Gana is the medical reference for the MSF project in Haiti. Photo: MSF
Dr. Gana, who spent time in Yemen and Sierra Leone, is
the medical reference for the Doctors Without Borders
(MSF) project in Haiti.
Today he is in the neighborhood of
Turgeau
, in the capital of Haiti, Port-au-Prince, a city taken over by criminal gangs, whose last achievement was to overthrow the government of the questioned Prime Minister Ariel Henry, in a context of
brutal anarchy and violence.
Bodies in the streets of one of the most wealthy neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince, Petion-Ville. Photo: AP
“The situation at this moment is critical. There are several entire neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince that
are seized by the fighting
. We are seeing a growing number of people who have been displaced by violence and insecurity. This already affects
more than 360 thousand people
,” describes the surgeon.
The doctor continues with
a story that should not exist.
“People are living in precarious conditions, without access to basic health services," he says. He continues: "We also see a situation of the health
system that is on the verge of collapse
." And he adds: "There are important hospitals that are closed for violence, medical personnel do not feel safe in health centers. There are hospitals with difficulties in obtaining medicines or fuel for generators…”
-A few days ago in Pétion-Ville
a large number of bodies appeared
in the streets. Is this something common?
-Indeed, a few days ago in Pétion-Ville a large number of bodies appeared in the street. Those are events that are happening here. The numbers of deaths is something I can't tell you, but I can tell you that we see significant numbers of people suffering from violent trauma in our centers. And our studies show that
people die from violent trauma in Haiti.
Video
According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, January 2024 was the most violent month in more than two years in Haiti.
The Doctors Without Borders team
does not have
any special security. There are about 215 people who are at the mercy of violence like the rest of the population. Its only “shield” is its long history in the country and being a humanitarian organization.
"For security we count on the fact that we have a long history with Haiti since the 90s. We are a principled medical humanitarian organization and so we have the support of the community, (but) we do not have specific security," he says .
However, community support
is not always enough.
“The situation is very volatile, last week
we had to get away from the windows several times and look for a safer place
in the hospital to wait for the shooting to stop. Many times we hear gunshots near our center. But that is happening all over Port-au-Prince,” says Gana.
Woman hospitalized at the MSF hospital in Tabarre, Port-au-Prince. Photo: Luce Cloutier/MSF
December 12 was another atrocious day: “We had to make an emergency transfer of a patient to another health center. Not far from us. Our ambulance was surrounded,
people forced entry, they took out the patient and shot him
.”
Dr. Gana also recalls the case of a young woman, “a few days ago, who suffered gunshot wounds at night, she did not feel comfortable going out to the center until the next day. There are many stories like that.”
Haiti's main hospital
is closed
. “It is closed – explains the surgeon – because there were clashes nearby, the staff did not feel comfortable getting to the hospital and they did not have medical supplies. "That's the same with other health centers."
Compared to previous years, for the doctor the situation today "is even more difficult."
Patients injured by gunshots are treated at the MSF emergency center in Turgeau. Photo: MSF/Alexandre Marcou
“Access to water
is not guaranteed in quantity or quality.
And we already know that this can bring infectious diseases as we have seen in Haiti before.”
Another problem is the lack of waste management, he continues. “It's not easy to say, but
they have people practically living on top of garbage
.”
Gaza, Yemen, Sudan… Dr. James Gana admits that “there are many humanitarian crises in the world right now, but here
we are not seeing an adequate response from the international community
. ”