Overview:
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has permanently closed its Turgeau Emergency Hospital in Port-au-Prince due to escalating gang violence that threatened patients and staff. The center, which has treated over 100,000 people since 2021, had already suspended services after an armed attack in March. Despite the closure, MSF will continue operations at Tabarre, Cité Soleil, and Pran Men’m.
PORT-AU-PRINCE — Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) has permanently closed its emergency hospital center in Turgeau, a central district of Port-au-Prince, after escalating gang violence made it too dangerous for patients and staff.
The MSF closure, announced Oct. 15, is another blow to Haiti’s collapsing healthcare system. Dozens of hospitals have already been forced to shut their doors amid repeated attacks and looting.
The humanitarian organization said reopening its facilities in Turgeau and Carrefour, another district, will depend on a humanitarian corridor being established between the two areas.
“MSF deeply regrets this difficult decision, made as a last resort,” said Jean-Marc Biquet, MSF Head of Mission in Haiti.
“This closure has a significant impact on access to healthcare for a population already severely affected by violence, instability, and increasingly precarious living conditions.”
Biquet said the violence has repeatedly disrupted hospital operations, with stray bullets striking the facility due to its proximity to combat zones. “This would make resuming activities too dangerous for both patients and staff,” he said.
Hospitals across Port-au-Prince have increasingly come under fire as clashes between armed groups and law enforcement intensify. The Turgeau closure adds to nearly 30 hospitals that have already ceased operations following attacks, fires, or vandalism.
Among those are the capital’s largest public facility, the State University Hospital of Haiti (HUEH), the Bernard Mevs Hospital—which treated wounded police officers—and the University Hospital of Mirebalais, serving the central region.
“This closure has a significant impact on access to healthcare for a population already severely affected by violence, instability, and increasingly precarious living conditions.”
Jean-Marc Biquet, MSF Head of Mission in Haiti
The shutdown leaves millions of residents without access to care. More than 1.4 million people, including 680,000 children, are now displaced and at risk of disease, according to the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH). The U.N. reports that gang violence has killed over 3,100 people and injured around 1,200 this year alone.
Many of the injured in Port-au-Prince, Artibonite, and the Centre regions were treated at MSF facilities—until operations were suspended. The Turgeau hospital had already been closed temporarily after a March 2025 attack that forced services to halt. Despite security assessments, the organization said no viable solution was found to protect staff and patients.
The decision ends nearly four years of service at the Turgeau site, where over 100,000 patients were treated since 2021. The hospital had been relocated there from Martissant after gang warfare cut off the southern entrance to the capital.
The closure follows a series of violent incidents targeting MSF. On March 15, 2025, one of its vehicles was attacked. Months earlier, on Nov. 11, 2024, an ambulance was hijacked in Delmas, resulting in the killing of a patient and threats to staff. In December 2023, another patient was executed after being taken from an ambulance in the Turgeau area.
Despite the Turgeau shutdown, Doctors Without Borders said it will continue operating in other parts of Port-au-Prince, including its Tabarre hospital, Cité Soleil emergency center, and Pran Men’m clinic.
“Medical action must take place in complete neutrality, within a space protected from violence, in order to continue meeting the urgent needs of vulnerable populations,” the organization said, calling on “all parties to respect humanitarian and medical work.”
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