Izo Nearly Died. This Hospital Saved Him.

The Carrefour Hospital Center treats gang members, the institution’s director general, Jean Joseph Regis, told AyiboPost

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Last year, gang leader Johnson « Izo » André, who was wounded in an explosive drone strike, was treated at the Carrefour Hospital Center (CHC), AyiboPost has learned.

The gang leader, who is wanted by the Haitian National Police for illicit drug trafficking and for running a kidnapping-for-ransom operation, received prompt medical care.

When « Izo » was hospitalized, the CHC set aside a room exclusively for him, equipped with « four oxygen cylinders, two doctors whose faces no one saw, and three nurses with all their equipment, » said a source who was present at the hospital that day.

During the hospitalization of one of the country’s most notorious criminals, armed gang members sealed off the entire Diquini area, even preventing public transportation vehicles from circulating, the source added.

Asked about the incident, the hospital’s director general, Jean Joseph Regis, said he learned about it from an internist who had treated Izo.

« I was told that [Izo] was in a room, accompanied by several people, » Regis said.

The physician, who had also ordered medical tests for the gang leader, told him that « everything was normal. » Regis, however, said he noticed abnormalities in the kidney test results, which were subsequently repeated.

« [Izo then] said he felt fine and wasn’t experiencing any pain, » said Regis, a pediatrician.

That same year, a member of the « 5 Segond » gang, considered a close associate of the criminal known as « Izo, » died at the Carrefour Hospital Center after being wounded in an explosive drone strike.

Another witness told AyiboPost that the CHC has a « special ward for gang members. »

Regis denied that claim but acknowledged that the hospital has about a dozen private rooms available to anyone who can afford them.

« It doesn’t matter who the person is. As long as they can pay, they pay. I don’t ask who they are, » CHC director Jean Joseph Regis said.

Gang members pay substantial sums to receive treatment at the CHC. According to two sources familiar with the hospital’s operations, doctors and nurses assigned to that section often prioritize armed gang members over other patients.

The facility, located in Diquini 63, quickly became the preferred hospital for notorious gang members and leaders as explosive drone strikes intensified.

Criminals who survived operations in Kenscoff, Croix-des-Bouquets and downtown Port-au-Prince have become a significant source of revenue for the institution, a source familiar with the hospital’s activities told AyiboPost.

This situation comes as gang violence since March 2024 has forced the closure of about 65% of hospitals in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area, including the State University of Haiti Hospital (HUEH), the capital’s main public hospital.

Other private hospitals have been vandalized, depriving thousands of people of access to essential medical care in a country whose healthcare system was already fragile.

« The Carrefour Hospital Center belongs to them, » the source said, requesting anonymity for security reasons.

In Carrefour, the bandits call the shots. For Regis, the hospital’s director general, who spoke to AyiboPost, the institution exists to serve everyone in the community without discrimination.

The director, who says he prohibits his employees from using the word « gang, » added that the hospital receives fewer gang members than other healthcare facilities in the area.

« I receive cases, but not many. It’s not something that comes in large numbers, » Regis said.

Around the world, medical and humanitarian organizations operating in conflict zones generally uphold the principle of neutrality while also defining its limits.

That is the case for Doctors Without Borders (MSF), for example. The organization enforces a strict no-weapons policy inside its facilities and does not hesitate to suspend or close operations when its neutrality or the safety of its staff is compromised.

Unlike the CHC, MSF provides medical care free of charge.

The priority given to gang members at the CHC has created tensions within the community.

In August 2025, a man who requested anonymity accompanied a colleague to the hospital after he suffered a hypertensive crisis that left the entire right side of his body paralyzed.

While the patient was receiving an IV, a member of the medical staff told the nurse caring for him that gang members were waiting outside for treatment.

The nurse immediately left the patient’s bedside.

The witness said he then saw a bloodied man with a blue handkerchief tied around his waist arrive, accompanied by about a dozen armed civilians, a doctor, a nurse and another wounded man who appeared to him to already be dead.

They headed toward the ward reserved for gang members.

In February 2026, the same source, who is also an educator in the municipality, again witnessed the treatment of a gang member who had come to the hospital with a gunshot wound to his left foot.

At the time, security forces were conducting operations in Kenscoff, about 20 kilometers from the municipality of Carrefour.

« I saw a doctor speaking with a cashier, saying that this case would cost 100,000 gourdes, » the witness said.

The cashier reminded him that such treatment was usually billed at 45,000 gourdes. But the doctor replied, « They’re members of the ‘Taliban.’ You can charge them 100,000 gourdes, » the source said.

The gang members then pulled a bundle of cash from a bag and handed it to the cashier without counting it. After taking the 100,000 gourdes, the cashier returned the change.

The doctor then reassured the armed men about their companion’s condition.

« He won’t die. We’re going to treat him, » the doctor said, according to the same source.

The witness, who was living in Carrefour at the time, said that throughout February he saw gang members wounded by gunfire or burned in drone strikes arriving at the hospital, sometimes as late as 10 p.m.

CHC director Jean Joseph Regis rejected the idea that gang members receive preferential treatment. Instead, he described what happens as a « screening » process intended to assess the condition of patients brought to the hospital.

According to information gathered by AyiboPost, gang members are generally handled by two doctors: one accompanies them to the hospital, while the other is a member of the hospital staff.

According to several witnesses, some doctors and nurses travel from downtown Port-au-Prince disguised as street vendors to avoid attracting attention.

This article has been updated to correct the name of the hospital’s director.

By :Jérôme Wendy Norestyl