Haiti: MSF forced to evacuate its hospital in Cité Soleil and temporarily suspend activities there
Port-au-Prince, May 11, 2026 – For more than 24 hours, the Cité Soleil neighborhood in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, has been the scene of heavy clashes between armed groups. At the Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) hospital, located in Cité Soleil, medical teams have had to cope with an influx of patients with gunshot wounds and take in more than 800 people seeking safety. As the situation continues to deteriorate, MSF has been forced to evacuate its hospital and suspend operations there until further notice.
On the morning of Sunday, May 10, 2026, extremely intense fighting broke out between several rival armed groups in the neighborhoods of Cité Soleil and Croix des Bouquets. Since then, the gunfire has not stopped, and the MSF hospital in Cité Soleil finds itself in the midst of the clashes.
“In just 12 hours, our teams treated more than 40 people with gunshot wounds,” explains Davina Hayles, MSF head of mission in Haiti. “One of our security guards was also struck by a stray bullet right inside our hospital compound. We managed to evacuate him, and he is now in stable condition, but it is unthinkable that our teams and civilians should become victims of these clashes. In addition, several hundred inhabitants of Cité Soleil, as well as our colleagues and their families, have sought refuge in our hospital, having no other option to shelter from the gunfire.”
MSF teams also treated patients transferred from the Fontaine Hospital, including pregnant women who gave birth overnight from Sunday to Monday. Currently, not a single hospital is open in the area where the fighting is taking place.
Faced with this situation of unprecedented violence, MSF was forced to evacuate its hospital and temporarily suspend its medical activities in Cité Soleil. “Our goal is to protect our patients and our staff,” says Hayles. “It is impossible for us to provide care in the midst of gunfire. A hospital where staff are not safe cannot function. For now, this suspension is temporary, due to the extreme level of insecurity. We know that medical needs are exponential in Cité Soleil and more broadly in Port-au-Prince.”
MSF calls on all parties to the conflict to ensure the safety of healthcare workers and civilians.
Notes for Editors
MSF has been working in Haiti for 35 years. Last year, its teams provided 129,458 medical consultations, including 12,984 for children under the age of 5, and assisted with 2,812 deliveries. They performed 8,469 surgical procedures, provided care for 4,975 survivors of sexual violence, treated 3,419 people for violence-related injuries, and conducted 19,819 physical therapy sessions.
Hannah Hoexter