Heavily armed Haitian police surround University Hospital before Prime Minister's visit

(9 Jul 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Port-au-Prince, Haiti - 9 July 2024
1. Officers of the Haitian national police walking through streets near University Hospital (HUEH) in Port-au-Prince
2. Chief of the Haitian National Palace Guard, Vladimir Paraison, leading Haitian National police officers through street
3. Various of hospital walls riddled with bullet holes
4. Police armored vehicle arriving at hospital
5. Abandoned hospital bed on street
6. Police surveying corner
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Gary Conille, Haitian Prime Minister:
++PARTIALLY COVERED WITH SHOTS 3-6 AND 8-9++
"We are here because we have to take back our hospital. Thousands of Haitians, when I was here, 1,500 people would come to this hospital every single day. And today it's impossible for them to have access to care. A hospital is not a war zone. Even under the worst circumstances, hospitals are protected. We are here because our courageous men and women of the police force helped us establish the first step in taking back our key infrastructure."
8. Group of police standing on street
9. Various of riot police
10. Bullet holes in hospital's walls
11. Various interiors of abandoned and damaged hospital
12. Police patrolling hospital
STORYLINE:
Heavily armed Haitian police patrolled the area around the University hospital in Port-au-Prince on Tuesday before the Prime Minister's visit.
The largest hospital in the Haitian capital has been shut since gangs took control of most of the neighborhood over five months ago.
Police cleared the are on Sunday night after a short exchange of gunfire with few gang members still positioned there.
The walls of the hospital and surrounding buildings are riddled with bullet holes, a telltale of the violence and several shootouts that took place in downtown Port-au-Prince, less than a block away from the National Palace.
The operation to take back control of the hospital and the gang-encroached territory was taken by the Haitian National Police in a move that follows the recent arrival of a U.N.-backed contingent of Kenyan police aiming to curb increasing violence.
Haitian Prime Minister Gary Conille and the head of Haiti’s police chief visited what is left of the hospital under heavy security. “It is a war zone,” said Conille.
The attacks from criminal groups have pushed Haiti’s health system to the brink of collapse. The escalating violence has led to a surge in patients with serious illnesses and a shortage of resources to treat them.
Haiti’s healthcare system, already struggling before the violence, faces additional challenges from the rainy season, which is likely to worsen conditions and increase the risk of water-borne diseases.
Many other hospitals and clinics in the capital had been forced to shut down since the gang violence surge in February this year, making access for patients and staff increasingly dangerous.
AP video shot by Pierre Luxama
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