19909: (Chamberlain) Body count in morgue suggests high Haiti death toll (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Pablo Bachelet

    WASHINGTON, March 5 (Reuters) - The Panamerican Health Organization
said on Friday the main hospital in Port-Au-Prince is holding the bodies of
nearly 200 victims of violence during a monthlong revolt in Haiti,
suggesting the death toll in the uprising could be far higher than so far
reported.
     PAHO, among the first international organizations to provide death
toll figures, said officials were struggling to restart basic services at
the capital's main University Hospital of Haiti.
     An armed revolt erupted on Feb. 5 and helped lead to the ouster of
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide on Sunday. The death toll had been
estimated at more than 100, but could be far higher, including the 200
noted by PAHO and other slayings across the country.
     The University Hospital has around 800 cadavers in its morgue, PAHO
said, adding that it estimated "200 bodies were victims of the violence in
the past two weeks."
     The hospital is the biggest health facility serving Port-au-Prince and
its surroundings, and caters mostly to those who cannot afford private
care.
     PAHO officials did not know whether more bodies were accumulating at
other morgues.
     The regional health body said in a statement that the revolt has
devastated Haiti's already inadequate health care system. "Since the start
of the crisis, (the University Hospital) has been closed and its staff has
not returned to work due to the lack of pay," it said.
     PAHO has supplied emergency generators to ten hospitals in the past
few days, but staff has not returned and Cuban medics were attending
emergency rooms, PAHO said.
     Cuba had sent around 500 medics to Haiti under an assistance agreement
with Aristide's government, and most have agreed to stay on despite the
violence, according to Cuban diplomatic sources in Washington.
     Several other countries have also donated cash or equipment for the
Haitian health system.
     Around 60 percent of the Haiti's population of eight million normally
has access to any kind of health care.