Haiti: MSF shuts clinic after patient shot dead

Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) on Thursday announced the temporary closure of an emergency clinic in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, following a violent incident where a patient was shot and killed by gunmen.

The armed group pulled out a critically ill patient from an MSF ambulance, assaulted him and fatally shot him. The gunmen then fled the scene.

MSF announced that the Turgeau Emergency Center, near where the attack took place, would be closed "indefinitely" as the group conducts a security analysis.

Benoit Vasseur, MSF's Haiti mission head, said in a statement the international organization "cannot accept that its ambulances are violently attacked and patients shot dead in the street."

MSF's other clinics in Port-au-Prince will continue operations, the statement said.

Aid workers fear for safety

The MSF was previously targeted by violent armed groups in Haiti threatening the safety of its staff and forcing a hospital in the capital to shut down earlier this year.

In November, patients had to be evacuated from the Fontaine Hospital Center in Port-au-Prince after it was surrounded by a heavily armed gang.

Escalating violence by armed gangs in Haiti has impacted the well-being of aid workers, forcing aid organizations to cease operations.

In Thursday's incident around 10 armed men stopped two ambulances near Turgeau Emergency Center in central Port-au-Prince before pulling out and shooting the victim.

"We need a minimum of safety to carry out our medical mission," Vasseur's statement said.

The United Nations has approved a multinational force to assist Haitian police, with Kenya leading it.

ss/sms (AFP, Reuters)