Health system in Haiti faces chaos

Haiti’s health system is facing unprecedented chaos as a result of the violence of armed gangs, who have not excluded hospitals and pharmacies from their targets, destroying, looting and burning as part of their terror strategy.

The action of the gangs, in addition to generating the exodus of the population from various areas of the center of the capital, have caused the paralysis of activity in public and private health centers that served the poorest and most disadvantaged.

The largest public hospital in the country, the Hôpital Général, was occupied for several hours by armed gangs, an action that adds to the burning of police stations and offices, the assault on the two largest prisons in the country and the attempts to take control of the Palace National.

The health system is dying

“It is a catastrophic situation. We are witnessing the systematic destruction of the nation-state. It is the first time in the history of Haiti that groups of bandits decide to put an end to the existence of a country. This destruction is something that no one will be able to rebuild,” he declared. Dr. Ronald Laroche, director of a network of at least 20 medical centers throughout Haiti, told EFE.

The businessman said that it saddens him to see that there has not yet been a national uprising regarding this situation and that Haitians are not fully aware of the dimension of the catastrophe. “I don’t have the impression that the message has come through clearly enough. The country is destroyed,” the doctor added.

The current situation, with hospitals closed and laboratories producing medicines very slowly, affects an already deficient health system, affected by the mass exodus of doctors, nurses and pharmacists.

In fact, health personnel are also victims of kidnappings, and The general lack of security prevents him from going to hospitals in the Port-au-Prince regionwhich is 80% under gang control and where a third of the population lives.

The deterioration of the health sector, which began in 2018, acquired a new dimension with the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in July 2021, and has deteriorated until reaching an extreme situation at the end of February 2024 as a consequence of the terror imposed by armed groups.

In the Port-au-Prince region (ZMPAP), gang attacks on health centers continue, further restricting access to medical care and medicines.

The pharmaceutical sector is not spared

The pharmaceutical sector also accuses the escalation of violence, “there is a shortage of medicines and medical supplies. This shortage will have an impact on the health status of the population,” complained the president of the Association of Haitian Pharmacists (APH), Pierre Hughes Saint Jean. , in an interview with EFE.

People who suffer from chronic diseases will not be able to continue with their treatments due to the shortage of medicines, and victims of accidents or gunshot wounds will have problems due to the lack of material to assist them, among other consequences for the pharmacist.

“We already had a health system on its knees. A deteriorated and failed health system. And the current situation is going to make it even worse.. “We thought we couldn’t fall any lower but, unfortunately, we are only falling deeper,” Saint Jean added.

Haiti has three drug production laboratories that cover between 25% and 30% of local needs. One is closed because the current situation of the area in which it is located does not allow its operation, and the other two are not operating at full capacity, he noted.

A bleak future

The hospitals that remain open are under considerable pressure, with a heavy workload, such as the La Paz University Hospital in Delmas 33, which remains operational thanks, among other things, to the support of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO). ), which provides medicines, medical supplies and fuel.

“If this situation continues, we will end up with a country that is clinically dead, because it will no longer have the resources to deal with it,” and while the country is disappearing, “armchair politicians do not realize that they are losing Haiti completely,” said the director. of the DASH hospital network, Ronald Laroche.

To rebuild hospitals and schools, massive international aid will be needed, since “Haiti’s banks will not be able to finance trade and industry, the construction of hotels and hospitals. We are facing an unimaginable catastrophe,” he said.