In Haiti, the NGO Médecins sans frontières (MSF) is once again forced to suspend its activities in one of its health centers in Port-au-Prince.
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This announcement comes after the attack on a Doctors Without Borders ambulance by unidentified armed individuals who executed the patient inside at point blank range. These events took place on Tuesday, December 12 in Turgeau, a district not far from the center of the capital. This is already the fourth time that MSF has had to close a medical facility in the country this year.
“ Our safety is guaranteed by communities »
Benoît Vasseur head of mission of MSF in Haiti, responds to Stefanie Schüler : “ Our security is guaranteed by our beneficiaries, by the communities in which we work. And for a humanitarian program to be successful, we have to be deeply involved in this network. »
“In the present case, where we have members of the community who have allowed themselves to attack our medical structures, of which ambulances are an extensioncontinues Benoît Vasseur, there is clearly an acceptance problem that we need to resolve. »
“ We don’t shoot the ambulance »
“ The resultshe continues, are serious: there is a public health system in Haiti, but it is dysfunctional. And we, MSF, provide quality, free medical care. The situation in Haiti is getting worse and worse, the level of violence continues to increase. And if there is something that we ask of the population who benefit from our care, it is to respect the humanitarian space and the medical space, which should be inviolable. We don’t shoot at the ambulance, we don’t attack hospitals, we don’t attack patients or medical staff. »
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