Almost 2 weeks after one of their doctors was abducted, these 2 Haitian hospitals are still closed
Port-au-Prince hospitals that specialize in the care of childhood cancer, COVID-19 and women with high-risk pregnancies remain closed more than a week after they suspended operations to demand the release of one of their doctors, who has been kidnapped, and to protest the violence that’s paralyzing medical care in Haiti.
Dr. Benetty Augustin, a 44-year-old pediatrician who specializes in the care of children with epilepsy, was on her way to the epilepsy clinic at St. Damien Hospital in Tabarre at around 6:30 a.m. May 5, when she was abducted just outside of her gate in the Laboule 12 neighborhood in Petionville.
Her kidnappers are demanding an undisclosed ransom amount, and it’s much more than the family can afford, a relative told the Miami Herald.
On May 9, both St. Damien, a 240-bed pediatric hospital, and St. Luke Hospital, which runs a 120-bed COVID treatment center in addition to its 80 beds, closed their doors, demanding Augustin’s release. The closure was announced by the St. Luke Foundation for Haiti, which operates both hospitals.
“All of the services are closed; we’re not even taking emergencies,” a spokesperson said.
St. Damien treats about 80,000 patients a year — including the 60 to 80 kids who visit its outpatient clinic daily. St. Luke, meanwhile, treats about 12,000 patients a year, including those with COVID-19 and victims of motorcycle accidents, who make up about 90% of its trauma care. It also houses one of the few CT scanTwo ners in the country.
Augustin’s abduction is the latest in a string of kidnappings and gangrelated violence that have continued unabated in Haiti. Physicians and other health workers are increasingly becoming victims, and an already fragile medical system is becoming even more paralyzed as a result of the growing violence.
The closures have incited debate in Haiti, where the poor already have limited access to healthcare. The spokesperson said while he understands the criticism of those who are troubled by the decision, they need to understand the medical community’s frustrations when one of their own falls victim.
“A hospital without doctors is a warehouse of pathology. There is no point in accumulating sick people in a place called a hospital if there is no medical team to help them,” said Dr. Richard Frechette, a physician and Roman Catholic priest who founded the Nos Petits Freres et Soeurs orphanage and the St. Luke Foundation to help improve medical care in Haiti.
“Hospitals are losing staff who are fleeing the country and those who don’t flee are terrorized and will not take to the streets,” he added. “A hospital has no way to protest except to be consistent. If you take our doctors, you take our hospital. We are nothing without our medical team.”
In several extreme cases, medical care has been shut down altogether due to the violence, which is also cutting off access to facilities that have managed to remain open.