PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, July 10, (AP): Haiti’s newly selected Prime Minister Garry Conille and Haiti’s police chief visited the country's largest hospital on Tuesday, after authorities said they took control of the medical institution over the weekend from armed gangs.
Haitian Police Chief Normil Rameau told a news conference Monday that police took control of the Hospital of the State University of Haiti, known as the General Hospital in Port-au-Prince, on Sunday night after months of escalating attacks from armed groups.
Haitians will "wake up one morning and find the operation done, the bandits stopped, and neutralized,” Normil said at the briefing, but did not take questions from the media. He was accompanied by Kenyan officer Godfrey Otunge, who said that the UN-backed contingent of Kenyan police intends to work closely with Haitian authorities as well as local and international partners dedicated to rebuilding Haiti.
The green and white-colored hospital was left ravaged by gangs, with beds stripped of their cots and ceiling fans on the floor. The building’s interior was left with debris and lighting fixtures among the hospital’s cubicles.
Hospital walls and nearby buildings were riddled with bullet holes, signaling fights between police and gangs in the neighborhood. The hospital is just across the street from the national palace, which was the scene of several battles in the last five months.
Conille said the building looked like "a war zone."
Council member Louis Gérald Gilles was also present on Tuesday's visit, and announced the hospital should be in full service by February 2026. Conille said the hospital served about 1,500 people a day before the gang's chokehold.
"This hospital is not for the rich, it’s for the poor,” Conille said on Tuesday. "These are people that need serious help that can't go see a private doctor.”