Lab technicians at Hôpital Albert Schweitzer (HAS) in Haiti normally run hundreds of tests each day, but recently, they ran into a problem: the equipment they use for the testing, a critical chemical analyzer, stopped working.

HAS is the main referral hospital for more than 350,000 residents in rural central Haiti. Physicians rely on the chemical analyzer to diagnose and manage several conditions, including dehydration, kidney failure and diabetes. Without it functioning properly, the hospital has had to send most of its lab work to outside sources for analysis which, in addition to delaying diagnoses, leads to another set of problems.

Frequent natural disasters and ongoing gang violence have created Haiti’s greatest humanitarian and security crisis in the past half century. Kidnappings, violence, blocked roads and limited fuel supplies have made travel extremely dangerous, if not impossible.

Despite the turmoil, HAS has remained open and continues to serve patients. Some healthcare workers, unable to return to their homes, have spent months living at the hospital. Not having a working lab on site is only the latest challenge to make providing health more difficult.

A grant from Brother’s Brother Foundation provided HAS with funding to purchase a new clinical chemistry analyzer, so the hospital can resume lab operations. The equipment has been sourced locally in Haiti and has the capacity to process multiple tests at the same time.

Brother’s Brother Foundation continues to send medical supplies, pharmaceuticals and durable medical equipment to Haiti. Our most recent shipment left our warehouse in late October.

Read more about BBF’s response to the natural disasters in Haiti over the summer here.