Some aid groups aren’t sure whether it’s safe enough to fly in to Haiti. Others have already canceled trips. And Haiti’s main public hospital is running low on water.
Even in the best of times, the General Hospital in Port-au-Prince doesn’t have running water and has to truck it in.
But since violent protests and flaming roadblocks erupted in major cities around the country a week ago, the facility, which usually sees anywhere from 400 to 500 patients a day, has endured burning tires and police tear gas outside its doors, and on Saturday a thrown Molotov cocktail in its yard.
No one was injured, said Dr. Jessy Colimon Adrien, the hospital’s executive director. But fed up with the hostile environment, Adrien on Monday shut down the last refuge for the capital’s poor — the emergency room.
“There is a lot of frustration because a doctor’s mission is to save lives,” she said. “[But] we cannot take any more new patients.” Continue reading