PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Doctors Without Borders is closing two hospitals in Haiti’s capital opened by the aid group in the aftermath of the January 2010 earthquake that devastated much of the city, an official with the organization said Friday.
A 176-bed obstetrics hospital in the Delmas area of Port-au-Prince will close in the coming days after some final patients are discharged and a hospital in the Tabarre area will close next year, said Michelle Chouinard, who heads the group’s mission in Haiti.
Both facilities opened in the wake of the earthquake that killed tens of thousands of people and left the capital and much of southern Haiti in ruins. Both were intended to be temporary but were extended because of the medical needs in the impoverished country.
“Given that the situation in Haiti is still difficult it was a very hard decision,” Chouinard said.
Many poor people in the capital depend on the obstetrics hospital, which has treated about 500 patients a month. About 40,000 babies have been born there.
Doctors Without Borders will continue to operate four clinics in Haiti, including one in Delmas that provides emergency medical care to victims of sexual and gender-based violence.
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