Since February, the area surrounding Port-au-Prince’s only public psychiatric center, which continued to operate, has become increasingly dangerous due to heavy gunfire from gangs.
Heavy shooting in the vicinity of the Mars & Kline psychiatric hospital forced Fedeline Jean Louis to leave in disaster on February 29, 2024.
The lady accompanied her mother, Rose-Marie Galan, to her appointment at the only public psychiatric center in Port-au-Prince which continued to operate.
“We didn’t even have time to see the doctor,” Jean Louis told AyiboPost. “I was forced to leave with my mother who was in great need of medication.”
An elderly lady is helped by other women as they rush out of downtown Port-au-Prince due to gang violence in March 2024. | © Jean Feguens Regala/AyiboPost
Galan, 46, has been attending Mars and Kline for more than twenty years. The treatment received allows the mother of four children to continue her business activities.
But Mars and Kline – which sometimes receives several dozen patients per day – has been dysfunctional for more than two months. This hinders patients’ access to care.
“Pèlerin’s shopkeeper, my mother is not well and can’t do anything,” worries Jean Louis. “She has an absent-minded look and sometimes laughs incessantly. »
Armed gang attacks that have occurred in several neighborhoods of the metropolitan area since February 29, 2024 have forced around thirty hospitals to close their doors, according to the Ministry of Public Health.
Read also: Haiti: hospitals overwhelmed by events
Naomie, a member of the maintenance staff at Mars and Kline, reports that she was almost killed on March 2, 2024 during clashes between the police and armed gangs at the bottom of the city of Port-au-Prince.
Having escaped thanks to the help of a relative on a motorbike, the woman says she can no longer return to the center.
A biker helps passengers flee violence in downtown Port-au-Prince in March 2024.
Naomie knows other employees in the same situation. She requests the use of her first name because she is not authorized to speak on behalf of the institution.
Early in the morning of April 25, 2024, armed bandits broke through a wall of the hospital to force their way through.
On occasion, the thugs made threatening remarks towards the occupants of the space, reveals another employee on site who is delighted that there were no victims.
Contacted by AyiboPost, the current director of the center, Dr. Normil Franklin — himself unable to go to his office — confirms the difficulty of access for staff, without providing additional details on the current situation of the center.
AyiboPost contacted the communications manager of the Ministry of Public Health, Jeanty Fils Exalus. The latter did not comment.
Since February, heavy gunfire has made the area surrounding the psychiatric center increasingly at risk.
A somber view of Mars & Kline Hospital in downtown Port-au-Prince in February 2020. | Photo: Emmanuel Yves Moise/Ayibopost
The Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of the State University of Haiti, located near the psychiatric center, was vandalized and looted by bandits on the night of April 20 to 21, 2024.
“Professionals can no longer directly assist patients,” psychiatrist Dimitri Thadal explains to AyiboPost. Medication instructions, according to the Mars and Kline doctor, are given by telephone to the small staff still present to assist them.
Only a few employees, including Bettie, a member of the support staff, risk frequenting the space.
Bettie says she has noticed that many of the patients have emptied the place. Some were recovered by their families.
The sick who remained there have been assisted by employees who have taken refuge in the hospital since the first attacks by bandits at the bottom of the town at the end of February.
Patients are in the courtyard of Mars & Kline hospital in February 2020. Photo: Emmanuel Yves Moise / Ayibopost
Jean Belfort is one of them. The house of the overseer of Mars and Kline was ransacked by the bandits on Burial Street.
“The situation is very complicated for patients and employees on site,” Belfort reports to AyiboPost. “There is no clean water and not enough food.”
Belfort doesn’t feel safe either. The area being impassable, parents of patients who remained inside hesitate to come and collect them.
According to Belfort, nearly 80 patients including around thirty women were still in the center until April 30.
Today, medical services are at a standstill and the situation remains tense in a context where the mental health of the population remains very difficult.
The situation is very complicated for patients and employees on site. There is no drinking water and not enough food.
– Jean Belfort
Mars and Kline saw about 30 patients a day from around the country, according to psychiatrist Dimitri Thadal.
In a rapport of the World Health Organization in 2011, the mental health system in Haiti was described as failing with insufficient resources.
This report highlights the lack of hospital centers for patients and a very low number of professionals compared to the population.
Furthermore, the budget allocated to mental health at the Ministry of Public Health and Population was only 1%, with very few staff specialized in these areas.
Haiti only counts 27 psychiatrists, or 0.28 psychiatrists per 100,000 inhabitants and 194 psychologists (2 per 100,000 inhabitants).
This young man, held in place by force, is one of dozens of potentially violent patients that Mars & Kline receives each year. | Photo: Emmanuel Yves Moise / Ayibopost
Max-Weber Victor, a psychiatrist at Mars and Kline for nearly fifteen years, explains to AyiboPost that people suffering from mental disorders, found in the streets, are frequently victims during major waves of violence in Port-au-Prince.
“Unfortunately, these cases are not recorded,” regrets the doctor.
Read also: AHPsy: Calls for psychological support are exploding in Haiti
For his part, Marabishi Jasmin, neuropsychiatrist, warns of the increase in cases of people suffering from mental illnesses in the country.
“We should expect more cases of major depression, particularly for families who are forced to keep sick people at home,” warns the specialist.
The shortage of medicines represents another problem. “This can trigger, in certain cases, psychotic attacks where patients can show increased aggression,” underlines Jasmin.
Since the bandits’ attack at the end of February, the main ports as well as the international airport of Port-au-Prince have been closed.
At least around ten pharmacies were set on fire by the bandits not far from the psychiatric center.
View of the Hospital of the State University of Haiti (HUEH), the largest hospital center in the country, today out of service, according to statements by its director Jude Milcé to AyiboPost.
The difficulty of finding medications remains a major concern for Fedeline Jean-Louis cited above.
“For the moment,” said Rose-Marie Galan’s daughter, “we are obliged to assist her at home, given that resources are limited, to try other alternatives.”
Par Lucnise Duquereste, Rolph Louis-Jeune et Wethzer Piercin
Cover image: View of the facade of the Mars & Kline hospital in Port-au-Prince in February 2020. | Photo: Emmanuel Yves Moise / Ayibopost
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