Dr. Simon Bryant: “What would we do faced with a sinking vessel with 500 or more souls on board?”
[Dr. Bryant was one of two doctors on board the MY Phoenix, a search-and-rescue boat that Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) launched last May in response to the growing humanitarian crisis involving migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea.]
What is your biggest concern going into this project?
I’m concerned that at some point our resources might be overwhelmed by the number of migrants needing rescue and medical care. The Phoenix is allowed a combined crew and MSF team of 20 people, but can legally have up to 400 on board. When we reach that point, we can still deploy four life rafts rated for another 80 persons, and lifebuoys for about another 40 in the water, but that's it. What would we do faced with a sinking vessel with 500 or more souls on board, exactly as occurred last week with 800 dead?
Even after time at sea in smaller boats, migrants can be significantly dehydrated and therefore seriously ill with kidney failure and complications from previous conditions such as diabetes. There is of course absolutely no medical screening before departure from Libya, and some migrants are quite sick, injured, or in advanced stages of pregnancy before embarking on their voyage. Finally, there is apparently an increasing number of unaccompanied minors in these migrant boats. It all adds up, leaving me wondering sometimes how it will all work out. But we will do everything we can.
Why do you think this is an important program for MSF to undertake?
The deaths of many hundreds of migrants already this year make it clear that this is a humanitarian crisis which cannot be ignored. MSF makes no distinction about the causes of human suffering; we just work to relieve it. These people are fleeing terrible situations in Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iraq, Libya, and Syria, and likely undertake the risky Mediterranean crossing fully aware of the risks. Last year, the Italian search-and-rescue program Mare Nostrum rescued over 150,000 migrants, but it was cancelled in November due to lack of support from other European countries. Without this kind of program, Mediterranean migrants are doomed. There are many opinions about whether rescue encourages other migrants to set sail, and whether Europe can absorb more people, but opinions never saved a drowning child—so MSF will, while the talk continues.
— from “‘Opinions Never Saved a Drowning Child’: On Board MSF’s Mediterranean Migrant Rescue Boat” (Doctors Without Borders)
