For World Patient Safety Day, learn more about the situation in Haiti >>
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Friend, violence should never get in the way of access to essential health care. But as Head of Mission in Haiti for Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), I’ve seen how ongoing conflict in the capital city of Port-au-Prince has caught civilians in deadly crossfire—and endangered the safety of both our patients and staff.
Recently, we were able to reopen our Tabarre hospital following two months of suspended operations after armed men stormed into the facility to seize a patient with bullet wounds. The medical staff, who work daily to save lives, were shocked by this violence and the contempt shown by these armed groups towards them. This is the latest in a series of security incidents in Port-au-Prince where the conflict between armed men has repeatedly interrupted our ability to deliver lifesaving care.
While we are pleased to reopen our doors, the armed intrusion that happened in July was completely unacceptable, and there is no place for violence or weapons in a medical facility.
MSF remains determined to provide lifesaving care to people in Haiti, who have endured escalated, deadly violence in recent years. Patient safety is more than sterile surgical tools or clean badges. It also includes safety from violence and other emergencies that disrupt care.
On World Patient Safety Day and every day, the safety of our patients and staff members alike is paramount in our projects around the world—including Haiti, Sudan, the West Bank, and more.
While we continue to provide lifesaving care in Haiti and beyond, MSF has been calling for the guaranteed safety of our patients and medical staff, and for all parties involved in the conflict to respect hospitals as a place of refuge.
Despite the recent violence at Tabarre hospital, we continue to deliver lifesaving care in Port-au-Prince and in places where medical access and patient safety are often threatened by violence—where other organizations frequently cannot or will not go:
In the first four months of 2023, MSF mobile clinic teams treated 7,781 patients and distributed more than 79,000 gallons of drinking water in the Delmas, Bel-Air, and Bas Bel-Air neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince where people have been particularly affected by violence.
People living in Khartoum, Darfur, and many other parts of Sudan have been affected by a sudden escalation in conflict since April. In that time, we’ve delivered more than 350 tons of medical supplies and treated over 1,000 patients at the hospital in El Fasher. However, the intense violence has blocked our aid efforts in certain parts of the country.
At the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank, military forces disrupted and hindered the delivery of medical care. On July 4, Israeli forces fired tear gas inside Khalil Suleiman hospital, where MSF is providing medical care. Our staff continued to provide emergency medical care to people affected by this violence, and between July 3 and July 6, treated 125 patients.
This email was sent from the U.S. section of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), an international independent medical humanitarian organization that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural and man-made disasters, and exclusion from health care.
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