Last Updated on April 1, 2020, 12:41 AM AST by Anthony Morris
The rooms of the General Hospital in Port-au-Prince were empty this week, as the doctors and nurses are absent due to the fear of becoming infected with COVID-19 coronavirus.
At present, Haiti has 15 confirmed cases of COVID-19 coronavirus in the country.
The Public Health Minister of Haiti, Marie Greta Roy Clement said on Monday that more than 200 people have been quarantined while their test results are awaited.
A handful of patients were seen sitting in plastic chairs at the state-run hospital, and they were waiting for their appointments with the few doctors on call.
Joseph Lebien is the head of the labour union for hospital employees and has worked at the hospital for 26 years.
He said while showing an old, dilapidated room that it was the orthopaedics waiting room. The room had some old equipment which needed to be replaced and some benches.
He said that before the pandemic, under normal circumstances, plenty of patients could be seen sitting on these benches, but the place was empty due to the outbreak of coronavirus.
Lebien said that majority of the patients in the orthopaedic ward were children having injuries to limbs, but as soon as news arrived that the first two people had tested positive for the novel coronavirus, most of the medical staff fled from the hospital.
He said that the majority of doctors do not come to work. The doctors are asking the Government to provide them with necessary supplies and equipment to protect them from the virus.
Some staff doctors and nurses had admitted to being afraid before the country’s first case of coronavirus.
A nurse said that they were already working under conditions which were not normal for most hospitals, and now the conditions had gotten worse.
She also added that the Ministry of Public Health had never discussed with the doctors and nurses about its policy regarding what is to be done when the country receives the first coronavirus case.
Anthony Morris covers stories related to politics and regional developments. His in-depth reporting about governance and reforms makes him stand out in regional journalism, with a deep analysis of political trends and their impact on Caribbean communities.
