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A6 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 24 april 2024
Haiti health system nears collapse as medicine dwindles, gangs

attack hospitals and ports stay shut

By DÁNICA COTO generators. Otherwise we
Associated Press run the risk of closing our
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) doors,” hospital director
— On a recent morning at a Dr. Paul Junior Fontilus said
hospital in the heart of gang in a statement. More than
territory in Haiti’s capital, a 2,500 people were killed or
woman began convulsing wounded across Haiti from
before her body went limp January to March, a more
as a doctor and two nurses than 50% increase com-
raced to save her. pared with the same period
They stuck electrodes to her last year, according to a re-
chest and flipped on an ox- cent U.N. report.
ygen machine while keep- Even if a hospital is open,
ing their eyes on a com- sometimes there is little or
puter screen that reflected no medical staff because
a dangerously low oxygen gang violence erupts daily
level of 84%. in Port-au-Prince, forcing
No one knew what was doctors and nurses to stay
wrong with her. at home or turn around if
Even more worrisome, the they encounter blocked
Doctors Without Borders roads manned by heavily
hospital in the Cite Soleil armed men.
slum was running low on The spiraling chaos has left a
key medicine to treat con- A malnourished child waits to be treated at a Doctors Without Borders emergency room in the Cite growing number of patients
vulsions. Soleil neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Friday, April 19, 2024. with cancer, AIDS and oth-
“The medication she really Associated Press er serious illnesses with little
needs, we barely have,” roads, forced the closure ordinated attacks on Feb. ing when the attack began, to no recourse, with gangs
said Dr. Rachel Lavigne, a of the main international 29, targeting critical infra- but gangs have infiltrated it. also looting and setting fire
physician with the medical airport in early March and structure in the capital and One of the few institutions to pharmacies in the capi-
aid group. paralyzed operations at the beyond. still operating is Peace Uni- tal’s downtown area.
It’s a familiar scene repeat- country’s largest seaport, The violence has forced sev- versity Hospital, located Doctors Without Borders
ed daily at hospitals and where containers filled with eral medical institutions and south of the shuttered air- itself has run out of many
clinics across Port-au-Prince, key supplies remain stuck. dialysis centers to close, in- port. From Feb. 29 to April medications used to treat
where life-saving medi- “Everything is crashing,” cluding Haiti’s largest public 15, the hospital treated diabetes and high blood
cation and equipment is Lavigne said. hospital. Located in down- some 200 patients with gun- pressure, and asthma inhal-
dwindling or altogether ab- Haiti’s health system has town Port-au-Prince, the shot wounds, and its beds ers that help prevent dead-
sent as brutal gangs tighten long been fragile, but it’s Hospital of the State Univer- remain full. ly attacks are nowhere to
their grip on the capital and now nearing total collapse sity of Haiti was supposed to “We urgently need fuel be- be found in the capital,
beyond. They have blocked after gangs launched co- reopen on April 1 after clos- cause we operate using Lavigne said.q

Spain approves plan to compensate victims of Catholic Church

sex abuse. Church will be asked to pay

act of recognition for those tims outside of church cir- victims involving the church
affected and their families. cles. as exaggerated. That re-
The Minister of the Presi- No details of how much or port accused the church
dency and Justice, Félix when financial compensa- of widespread negligence.
Bolaños, said the plan was tion would be paid were Bolaños said the govern-
based on recommenda- released. Neither was a ment hoped to carry out
tions in a report by Spain’s date set for any public act the plan over the next four
Ombudsman last year. of recognition. years in collaboration with
From that report, he said it Bolaños said the plan the church.
was concluded that some aimed to “settle a debt The project will include free
440,000 adults may have with those victims who for legal assistance for all vic-
suffered sex abuse in Spain decades were forgotten tims of sexual abuse and
by people linked to the by everyone and now our it will reinforce the preven-
church and that roughly democracy aims to repair” tion supervision in schools.
A woman prays at the San Ramon Nonato church after an Easter half of those cases were that, and make it a central Only a handful of countries
Holy Week procession was cancelled due to the coronavirus committed by clergy. part of government policy. have had government-
outbreak in Madrid, Spain, Thursday, April 9, 2020. Bolaños said the compen- After years of virtually ig- initiated or parliamentary
Associated Press sation would be financed noring the issue, Spain’s inquiries into clergy sex
MADRID (AP) — Spain on sex abuse committed by by the church. bishops apologized for abuse, although some in-
Tuesday approved a plan people connected to the But in a statement Tuesday, the abuses committed by dependent groups have
aimed at making repara- Catholic Church. Spain’s Bishops Conference church members following carried out their own
tion and economic com- It also announced the fu- rejected the plan, saying it the Ombudsman’s report investigations.q
pensation for victims of ture celebration of a public discriminated against vic- but disputed the number of