HEALTH | HAITI | HOSPITAL

Armed men broke into a hospital in the suburbs of Port-au-Prince and seized a patient before shooting him dead outside, the non-governmental group Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Thursday.

The incident took place Sunday at the Raoul Pierre Louis hospital in Carrefour, in the southern suburbs of the Haitian capital, according to the organization.

"In the emergency room supported by Doctors Without Borders, these men armed with handguns seized a patient and coldly executed him outside the hospital," MSF said in a statement.

No details were known about the identity of the gunmen or the patient. The Haitian National Police did not immediately respond to AFP's request for comment.

"This is the first time we have recorded such an incident, that armed men burst into one of our centers to perpetrate such an act," Michel Alexandre, MSF communications head in Haiti, told AFP.

Alexandre called for "respect" for the organization's missions and staff, adding that if more violent incidents occurred, the organization would be forced to temporarily close the facility to "assess the situation."

Another MSF facility in greater Port-au-Prince recently shut down after someone was shot nearby.

In June 2021, an MSF hospital was targeted by gunfire in Martissant, an area also on the southern outskirts of Port-au-Prince where rival gangs frequently clash. 

Two months later, the organization announced that due to the insecurity, the hospital would shut its doors after 15 years in operation and relocate to downtown Port-au-Prince. 

Haiti has been mired in a political crisis stemming from the 2016 election, which was aggravated by the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in July 2021.

Gangs operate with widespread impunity and have extended their reach beyond the slums of the Haitian capital, with violence soaring in recent years.