Doctors targeted and hospitals close amid gang violence in Haiti

Gang violence in Port-au-Prince is disrupting healthcare and leaving medical workers vulnerable to the deteriorating safety situation in the Haitian capital, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has warned.

Four hospitals in Port-au-Prince were closed on 22 May after staff walked out in solidarity with colleagues who had been kidnapped by armed gangs. The medical personnel are demanding guarantees that they will not be caught up in the wars of drug gangs vying for control of territory in the capital.

The kidnapping on 17 May of Jacques Pierre Pierre, medical director at the Haitian State University Hospital, prompted the strike, but it is only one in a spate of recent abductions of Haitian healthcare workers. Benetty Augustin, a paediatrician and specialist in epilepsy, was kidnapped while she was on her way to work …