Hospitals and telecommunications services in Haiti warned Monday of a risk of shutting down their activities due to the fuel shortage.

The latter is caused by the growing grip of gangs on the capital Port-au-Prince.

Lives are "likely to be lost" if fuel deliveries do not reach hospitals immediately, the UN's interim humanitarian coordinator in Haiti, Pierre Honnorat, warned on Sunday.

The association of private hospitals in Haiti, which provides more than 70% of care, has launched "a cry of alarm to the government" in the face of a "dramatic situation".

Worried hospital structures

"With this fuel shortage, it is the continuation of vital services from 40 hospitals to entire sections of the population which is in jeopardy," the association said on Sunday.

“The poorest risk paying dearly for the consequences with their lives.

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Same concern on the side of Médecins sans Frontières, present in Haiti for thirty years.

"If the situation continues, the trauma / burns hospital of Tabarre in Port-au-Prince, which receives an average of 155 patients per month, may have to reduce its activities and restrict its admission criteria in the coming days" , said the NGO.

Villainous kidnappings

The gangs which control a good part of Port-au-Prince have blocked the roads leading to the oil terminals for several months, preventing the supply of gas stations.

This situation has already caused the shutdown of mobile telecommunications service, whose antennas are supplied with electricity by generators.

"More than 300 sites out of 1,500 are affected by the fuel shortage," lamented on Monday the director of Digicel, a telephone company which controls 75% of the Haitian market.

Schools and businesses remained closed Monday in Port-au-Prince, where the usually congested streets were deserted after a call for a strike by public transport unions against insecurity.

Since the summer, gangs have stepped up kidnappings across the country.

One of the most powerful armed gangs in the country demands $ 17 million in ransom to free missionaries and their families.

These sixteen American citizens and one Canadian citizen were kidnapped on October 16.

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  • Haiti

  • Shortage