Two hospitals in Haiti’s capital that specialize in the care of childhood cancer, COVID-19 and women with high-risk pregnancies remain closed more than a week after they suspended operations to demand the release of one of their doctors, who has been kidnapped, and to protest the violence that’s paralyzing medical care in the country.
Dr. Benetty Augustin, a pediatrician who specializes in the care of children with epilepsy, was on her way to the epilepsy clinic at St. Damien Hospital in the Tabarre community of Port-au-Prince at around 6:30 a.m. on May 5 when she was abducted just outside her gate in the Laboule 12 neighborhood in Petionville.
It was a weekly routine for Augustin, 44, who runs the clinic. Twelve days later, she remains captive. Her kidnappers are demanding an undisclosed ransom amount, and it’s much more than the family can afford, a relative told the Miami Herald.
