Port-au-Prince: MSF treats over 100 patients in two weeks as hospital access deteriorates
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In the first two weeks of January, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) treated just over 100 people injured by violence at the MSF hospital in Drouillard in Port-au-Prince. Since late December, the city has seen a surge in clashes between the Haitian National Police and armed groups, mainly in densely populated neighbourhoods under armed group control. For thousands of civilians, daily life is now marked by gunfire and drone strikes, leaving many trapped in their armed groups-controlled areas.
In Port-au-Prince, being injured no longer simply means surviving violence: patients must also cross multi-metre barricades, navigate blocked roads and pass through neighbourhoods under fire to reach one of the few hospitals still operational. Many medical facilities in the capital are closed or only partially functional, some having been attacked or looted by armed groups. Only one public hospital with surgery capacities remains open, while most others are private and largely inaccessible to people who are the most vulnerable in the city.
“In my area, there are no hospitals and no medicines. There are a few doctors, but they barely have enough to provide basic dressings,” explains Anderson, 35, a kitchenware merchant and MSF patient. He was admitted to MSF’s Tabarre hospital in early January after being shot in the heel while returning home in a Port-au-Prince neighbourhood controlled by armed groups.
People no longer dare to leave these areas. They are afraid,” he says. “Those coming from my area are always seen as criminals, especially if they are shot, even if they haven’t done anything wrong. Ambulances do not come here, and mototaxis often refuse to transport the injured for fear of being targeted themselves.”
Despite these severe constraints people face trying to access care, MSF has recorded a marked increase in violence-related admissions at our Drouillard hospital. Between Dec. 29, 2025, and Jan. 12, 2026, 101 patients injured by violence were admitted in just 15 days, including 66 with gunshot wounds. This two-week figure already far exceeds the monthly average of 54 gunshot wound admissions at Drouillard in 2025.
Of these patients, 30 per cent were women and nine per cent were children under 15.
Patients requiring surgical care are referred to Tabarre trauma hospital, one of the last facilities in the capital still able to provide free specialized surgical care. These referrals, however, occur under precarious conditions. For over a year, MSF has had to suspend our ambulance service due to repeated threats and attacks on vehicles and patients during transfers between medical facilities. Some vehicles from the state ambulance center remain operational, but their capacity is insufficient. As a result, many critically injured patients arrive late, after fighting has subsided in their neighbourhoods, often transported by non-medical means such as mototaxis.
“Many patients arrive with worsened injuries because they were unable to access care earlier,” explains Dembélé Dionkounda, physician and medical coordinator at Tabarre hospital.
“In the past two weeks, most violence-related admissions involved gunshot wounds, often severe, causing open fractures or abdominal trauma. With over 40 such cases, these injuries make up the majority of patients we treated during this period.”
In 2025, 686 patients injured by violence were admitted to MSF’s Tabarre hospital, nearly 90 per cent of them with gunshot wounds.
Among those shot were 193 women and 47 children under 14. The trend shows no sign of slowing: on Jan. 6, 2026, alone, MSF admitted eight patients with gunshot wounds in a single day, highlighting the persistence and intensity of violence in the capital.
