Haiti’s health professionals go on strike over kidnappings

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Thousands of doctors, nurses and other health professionals across Haiti have gone on strike to protest a spike in gang-related kidnappings.

The three-day strike that began on Monday shut down public and private health institutions in the capital of Port-au-Prince and beyond, with only emergency rooms accepting patients.

“We are living a catastrophic situation where no one is protected,” said Dr Louis Gerald Gilles, who closed his private practice on Tuesday in the neighbourhood of Delmas to protest the recent kidnappings of two doctors.

“No professional is protected. Today it could be a doctor, tomorrow they could enter the office of a lawyer or an architect.”

Kidnappings in Haiti increased 180% in the past year, with 655 of them reported to police, according to mid-February report by the United Nations Security Council.

Authorities believe the number is much higher since many kidnappings go unreported.

“No social group was spared; among the victims were labourers, traders, religious leaders, professors, medical doctors, journalists, human rights defenders and foreign citizens,” the report stated.

The most recent kidnappings of two doctors spooked the staff at Port-au-Prince's General Hospital, where union workers gathered on Tuesday and said conditions had become increasingly dysfunctional since the July 7 killing of President Jovenel Moïse.

They accused the administration of Prime Minister Ariel Henry of not releasing sorely needed funds to the Ministry of Health for basic services, adding that they were worried about the lack of security.

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