Port-au-Prince, 14 October 2025 – Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has been forced to permanently close its Emergency Center in Turgeau due to increasing insecurity in the centre of Port-au-Prince. This health facility had temporarily closed its doors and suspended its activities in March 2025 following a serious incident targeting MSF.
The Turgeau Emergency Center suspended operations in March 2025 following a serious security incident that endangered the lives of our staff. Since the suspension, several technical ballistic protection assessments have been conducted to identify suitable protection solutions, but no option has been able to guarantee a sufficient level of security to continue our activities.
“However, we remain fully committed and are actively exploring all alternatives to maintain our medical support in Port-au-Prince and Carrefour with MSF’s current health activities and to see if others can be considered,” Biquet concluded.
It should be noted that before resuming medical activities in downtown Port-au-Prince and Carrefour, MSF is still awaiting the signing of a memorandum of understanding establishing a humanitarian corridor between Port-au-Prince and Carrefour. This step is considered crucial and is a prerequisite for restarting activities that have been suspended since March 2025.
MSF deplores this situation and calls on all parties to respect humanitarian and medical work. Medical action must be able to take place in complete neutrality, in an area protected from violence, in order to continue to respond to the urgent needs of vulnerable populations. MSF continues its activities in the capital Port-au-Prince through the Tabarre hospital, the Cité Soleil emergency center, the Pran Men’m clinic, primary health care in Delmas 4, Bel Air, Bas Bel Air/La Saline, and the recent reopening of the Isaïe Jeanty maternity hospital in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Population.
Created in 2006 in Martissant and then moved to Turgeau in 2021 for security reasons, MSF’s Emergency and Referral Center—which employs 206 people—is closing its doors permanently after six months of suspended operations due to worsening security risks. From 2021 to March 2025, the Turgeau emergency center treated more than 100,000 patients of all ages, demonstrating its vital role in helping vulnerable populations in the capital.
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