In a hospital located in a perilous part of Haiti’s capital, a woman began to tremble and subsequently lost consciousness one morning.A doctor and two nurses rushed to help her.
They put electrodes on her chest and turned on a machine to help her breathe, while watching a computer screen that showed her oxygen level was very low at 84%.
Even more concerning, the hospital in the Cite Soleil slum didn’t have enough medicine to treat convulsions.
“The medicine she really needs, we hardly have,” said the doctor. Rachel Lavigne is a doctor who works with a group that helps people with medical needs.
Every day in hospitals and clinics in Port-au-Prince, there is a shortage of important medication and equipment because violent gangs are taking control of the city and surrounding areas. They stopped people from using the roads, made the main airport close in March, and stopped the country’s biggest seaport from working properly, so important supplies are stuck in containers.
“Everything is falling apart,” Lavigne said.
Haiti’s health system has always been weak, but now it’s almost falling apart after gangs attacked together in February. 29, attacking important buildings and services in the main city and nearby areas.
The violence has made many hospitals and dialysis centers shut down, even the biggest hospital in Haiti. The State University of Haiti Hospital in downtown Port-au-Prince was supposed to open on April 1 after closing due to an attack, but gangs have gotten in and it’s not able to reopen.
One of the few places still open is Peace University Hospital, which is located to the south of the closed airport. Starting in February. From March 29 to April 15, the hospital helped around 200 people who were shot, and all the beds are still occupied.
“We really need fuel right away because we use generators. ” “Otherwise, we might have to shut down our hospital,” said Dr. [Director’s Name]Paul Junior Fontilus mentioned in a message.
Between January and March, over 2,500 people were hurt or killed in Haiti. This is more than 50% higher than last year, according to a new report from the UN.
Sometimes, even when a hospital is open, there are not enough doctors and nurses because gang violence in Port-au-Prince makes it unsafe for them to go to work.
More and more sick people with cancer, AIDS, and other serious illnesses can’t get the help they need because of the chaos. Gangs are also stealing from and burning down pharmacies in the city’s downtown area.
Doctors Without Borders has run out of medications for diabetes, high blood pressure, and asthma inhalers that help prevent deadly attacks are not available in the capital.
Doctors at the hospital tried to help a boy with a bad asthma attack by giving him oxygen. That didn’t help, and another kind of medicine didn’t help either. In the end, they gave him a shot of adrenaline, which is used in emergencies to treat severe allergic reactions.
“We make things up and try our hardest for the people here,” Lavigne said.
People are getting sicker because they can’t get the medicine they need for their long-term health problems, said Jacob Burns, who helps lead Doctors Without Borders.
“It gets very bad and they don’t have any other choices,” he said. “Some people don’t have many choices at the moment. ”
The hospital in Cite Soleil had to reduce the number of patients it can help each day from 150 to 50, but they still make sure to take care of people who need immediate help.
Many people wait outside the hospital every day. They might get shot by gangs who control the area while they wait for medical help.
Anyone can go to the hospital, but doctors will decide who gets treated first by setting up a special area called triage. “People who don’t need help right away should come back another day,” Burns said.
On Friday morning, 51-year-old Jean Marc Baptiste walked slowly into the hospital’s emergency room with a bandage on his right hand that was bleeding. He said that the police in a strong vehicle shot him yesterday while he was gathering wood to sell in an area where gangs are in charge.
When they got inside, the nurses took off the bandage and saw a big cut on his thumb. He cried because it hurt. Lavigne told him he should see a plastic surgeon, but the hospital doesn’t have one. She also ordered X-rays to check for any broken bones.
The Cite Soleil hospital usually helps three injured people every day, but sometimes it can be as many as 14, the staff said.
Five people who were shot arrived at the hospital after being stuck on a bus all night because of a lot of shooting.
“He said Cite Soleil was a place where a lot of violence happened for a long time. ” “Now there is a lot of violence everywhere and it’s causing problems for everyone. “
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Haitian healthcare system on the verge of collapse due to shortage of medication
