Haiti’s health minister loses his job after a deadly gang attack on a hospital in the capital

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haiti’s health minister has been removed from his post, government officials told The Associated Press on Thursday, following a deadly gang attack on the largest public hospital in the capital, Port-au-Prince.

The two government officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the issue, said Health Minister Duckenson Lorthe will be replaced by Justice Minister Patrick Pelissier until a new health minister is found.

Two journalists and a police officer were killed Tuesday as gang members burst into the General Hospital and fired indiscriminately at reporters who were there to cover the facility’s reopening.

It was one of the worst attacks on Haitian media in recent memory. Seven other journalists were injured.

Jean Frans Regala, a photographer who survived, said journalists had been invited to the hospital by the health ministry but there was little security at the site.

“The fact that the minister of health invited us, you feel that preparations have been made already,” Regala told the AP. “When we made contact with a police unit, the police told us they were not aware of the event.”

The health minister did not show up at the event, for reasons that have not been explained.

On Tuesday, Johnson “Izo” André, considered Haiti’s most powerful gang leader and part of the Viv Ansanm group of gangs that has taken control of much of Port-au-Prince, posted a video on social media claiming responsibility for the attack.

The video said the gang coalition had not authorized the hospital’s reopening.

Gang violence has worsened in Haiti since the nation’s president was killed in a 2021 coup attempt. Gangs are believed to control 85% of the capital and earlier this year staged attacks on the main airport and the country’s two largest prisons.

The Caribbean country has struggled to organize an election that will restore democratic rule, and is currently governed by a transitional council made up of representatives of political parties, business groups and civil society organizations.