Port-au-Prince, Oct 31 (Agency) The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has delivered 6,000 gallons of fuel to three hospitals in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, on Friday and Saturday and more support is expected on Sunday, UNICEF Haiti’s Chief of Communications Ndiaga Seck told Sputnik. “Yesterday and today, UNICEF was able to deliver at least 6,000 gallons of much-needed fuel to three hospitals in Port-au-Prince despite insecurity and gang criminality,” Seck said on Saturday. “This new provision of fuel will enable them to resume their lifesaving services, especially to newborns and pregnant women.”
The spokesman told Sputnik that on Sunday a fourth hospital is expected to receive fuel provided through the UNICEF. “Nevertheless, some health centres are still running out of fuel, which disrupted their emergency medical services,” Seck stressed. Earlier this week, Seck described the present conditions in Haiti as being in distress as a result of fuel shortages caused by insecurity in the country that particularly endangers the lives of women and children, as well as COVID-19 patients. He told Sputnik that UNICEF had made a contract with a local provider to bring 10,000 gallons of fuel to four major hospitals in Port-au-Prince. The provider said deliveries were not possible in the rest of the country, but later said that it was not going to carry out Port-au-Prince deliveries anymore either.
Seck told Sputnik that fuel shortages have impacted almost every aspect of life in Haiti. The country suffered from a devastating earthquake in August, which killed over 2,000 people and caused signification damage. Poverty, gang violence, and the political crisis exacerbated by the assassination of President Jovenel Moise last July, are making the drastic situation even worse. UNICEF says it has received distress messages from several hospitals in Haiti because they have no fuel to run the generators and ensure the proper functioning of their emergency services.