The largest hospital in Haiti, depending on the United States Agency for International Development, was shot by gangs

Two days before last Christmas, Dr. Pierre S. took over. Prince is a new and exciting job as director of the largest general hospital in Haiti, which has spent tens of millions of dollars in renewing and is so deep in gang lands that it was closed for a year.

Dr. Prince, a 57 -year -old Sadri surgeon, aspired to a return to Haiti University Hospital, which was subjected to an earthquake in 2010, which destroyed the country’s capital.

He has set up there and would have supervised a new wing, a 500 -bed facility with nearly $ 100 million in renewal operations and a set of services, including operating rooms, orthopedics, birth and childbirth.

On Christmas Eve, as he went to work, the gangs attacked a press conference that is scheduled to announce the hospital’s parts, a police officer and journalists were killed, and seven other journalists were injured. None reopened.

The situation last month: Videos The New York Times, which was distributed on social media and verified by New York, showed an old building in the General Hospital, as it is commonly known, soaked in fire. The gang members appear to have set fire.

“Doctors are afraid, our residents and our trainees are depressed.” Some of them have left. The morale is very low. “

The hospital’s fate emphasizes the growing desperate conditions facing Haiti and international donors while trying to save Port or Prince from the control of armed gangs, which targeted foreign generated health facilities.

Haiti, where the United Nations says about 20 percent of 10 million people carry sharp levels of hunger, have provided one million of their homes due to violence, and depends in particular on external aid and was receiving up to 400 million dollars annually from the United States alone.

But while Elon Musk takes an ax to US foreign aid around the world, and dismantling the United States Agency for International Development, programs such as continuing to renew the General Hospital in Port or Prince in cross hair.

The new wing of the hospital, which helped the US International Development Agency to pay for it, was already suffering from the great Cost abuses and a contract delay. Now I was beaten by the repeated attacks by criminal groups, as Haiti’s capital has become a quagmire, despite billions of dollars in international aid.

“The general hospital is somewhat similar to a case study on how an error occurs. “They did not work at all, and the General Hospital is closed to all these other reasons.”

Haiti General Hospital was built next to the Presidential Palace in the center of Port or Prince by the American Army Engineers Corps during the American occupation of Hititi, from 1915 to 1934.

For years, many patients were gunshots and torture victims. In a country where politicians and wealthy elites travel to the Dominican Republic or Miami for Health Care, the General Hospital served the overwhelming masses.

“It included the only dialysis machines in the country,” said David Ellis, an American who runs a port helicopter service in Port or Prince. “It was, when open, the most comprehensive surgical center in the country.”

It was so severely damaged in the 2010 earthquake that no one was able to treat hundreds of severe wounded injured who gathered abroad, and their bloody ends exposed to the raging air.

The hospital’s renewal was one of the first projects accredited by the International Reconstruction Committee formed to rebuild Haiti after the earthquake. France has committed 40 million dollars, the United States is $ 25 million.

After a series of delay and contract disputes, it was determined to complete it in June 2023 – nine years after the planned.

At the same time, the political situation in Haiti has deteriorated. The president was assassinated in 2021, and kidnappings and killings increased.

In July 2022, the US Agency for International Development increased its contribution by 10 million dollars because the Halet government could not pay its share, according to 2023 reports By the Government Accountability Office, the Congress Observer Agency.

The hospital was just one of the many projects that Gao studied, which ended in the budget. The United States spent $ 2.3 billion to support Haiti’s reconstruction in the contract after the earthquake, and half of the eight major projects that were reviewed have been completed.

While a major power plant and about 900 homes were built in Port or Prince, two projects were canceled, including the construction of a new port, when the costs rise, and two others-including the General Hospital-were still continuing.

The government accounting office said that technical and political conflicts caused great delay and costs in the hospital.

But the hospital turns along, half -opening, while the work stopped on the new wing.

Then a year ago, an alliance of gangs gathered together to attack police stations, prisons, hospitals and societies. Gangs set the homes on fire, and the entire neighborhoods were cleared – including the downtown area, which includes a home to the hospital.

The former Prime Minister was forced to avoid shooting during an official visit to the hospital last year and was transferred with his security details While CNN cameras rolled.

With the very risky area, more than 800 people working in the hospital, including doctors and nurses, were paid to stay at home for about a year.

“There is an intense desire to make us waste time,” said Dr. Stevens Gabriel, the resident surgeon who complained about his non -recycling to another facility to continue to advance his skills and train him.

Although the police barracks are close, the gangs looted the General Hospital. The governments of the United States, France and Haiti have already spent about $ 90 million. Dr. Prince said that electrical wires, plumbing and equipment were stolen, although many new medical equipment have not yet been installed.

He said that the damage is estimated at about 3 million dollars to 4 million dollars, and the project could return two years – if the security situation is absolutely improved to reopen the hospital. Dr. Prince now says they are exploring a new temporary place for work.

Ellion Carive, French member of Parliament for citizens who live abroad in Latin America and the Caribbean Sea, who sits on the Board of Directors of the Development Agency that helped funding the project, that drones are used to assess the damage caused by the last fire.

“France is ready to do what it can help, but the situation is very complicated. My voter told me that this was never bad,” she said.

Satellite photos were taken eight days after the shooting by Planet Labs commercial satellite, as it shows an old building of charred buildings and at least two other two.

Dr. Barth Green, head of the Medishare project for Haiti, a Miami -based charity and a major supporter of health services in the country, said the attack was a particular document because the General Hospital was where generations of nurses and doctors were trained.

He said: “This is the National University Hospital, and so on, by destroying this, it is a symbol.”

The issue is very important: only one of three main hospitals in the capital area is open. Of 92 health facilities in the capital area, only 39 operate, according to the American Health Organization.

Under the new Trump administration’s batch to eliminate external aid, funds were frozen for most projects funded by the United States Agency for International Development, although the judge recently ruled that the agency was on previous contracts.

When asked about the case of the hospital, the US State Department, who took control of the Relief Agency, said that it will conduct a review with the aim of “restructuring the assistance to serve the United States.”

“The programs that serve the interests of our nation will continue,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. “However, programs that are not in line with our national interest will not be.”

The Hilate Ministry of Health did not respond to the requests for suspension.

In response to a post on X criticizing the billions spent in Haiti after the earthquake, Prime Minister Alex Didier Filier agreed that a lot of American assistance was dispelled.

“You are right !!” books In a message addressed to Mr. Musk“The USA International Development Agency spent a billion (such) on Haiti without accountability. Haiti needs economic development and security, not corruption and fitness.”

He added that he is looking to work with President Trump to achieve economic prosperity.

Devon Lum The reports contributed. Dmitry scared Contribute to the video editing.