Hospitals evacuated, MSF services halted as rival gangs clash in Haiti's capital

Hospitals in Haiti's Cite Soleil evacuated their patients and aid group MSF suspended its activities there on Monday as fighting between armed groups operating in the area that began a fortnight ago deteriorated over the weekend.



MSF (Doctors Without Borders in English) said hundreds of residents sought refuge in its hospital in the neighborhood - an impoverished part of the capital Port-au-Prince - where one of its security guards was shot by a stray bullet while inside the compound.



Another hospital in the area, Hopital Fontaine, told Reuters it evacuated newborns from its intensive care unit. MSF said it treated some patients who transferred from Fontaine, including pregnant women who gave birth overnight.



"Currently, not a single hospital is open in the area where the fighting is taking place," it said in a statement, adding that while local medical needs were growing exponentially it could not protect its staff or patients in the midst of gunfire.