Médecins Sans Frontières Doctor Simon Bryant examines a patient wound from dog bite on May 14. The wound got infected since and his foot swollen.
It’s 4 p.m. in Malta. Crews are busy stocking extra supplies, refueling and adding a shade cover to the upper deck of the MY Phoenix, a rescue ship bound for the central Mediterranean Sea.
“Little things that we’ve learned from the last tour,” said Dr. Simon Bryant, during an interview with the Crag & Canyon on Friday.
This is the Canmore doctor’s first Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) mission. He is tasked with providing medical aid to migrants fleeing the shores of Libya in search of a better life in Europe.
It’s been a steep learning curve for the 56-year-old family physician, but he is glad to be making a difference in the lives of people who have been marginalized and oppressed for so long.
“We're getting the message out that these aren›t numbers, these are individuals with stories and lives like you or me,” said Bryant.
This year alone, it is estimated that approximately 51,000 people have attempted the crossing with 1,800 losing their lives. Bryant’s appreciation of the gravity of the growing humanitarian crisis came with his first rescue. Within the first few days of operation, the MY Phoenix came across a vessel with 369 people on board that was taking water. Certain they would sink before they reached the shores, the passengers had started to pray.
“That was really quite sobering. It really opened my eyes to the reality of the situation — the fact that these people would have been swimming in the open Mediterranean without life jackets, if they could in fact swim,” he said.
Bryant paints a bleak but honest picture of his time aboard the MY Phoenix.
Within the first two weeks of operations, which began May 2, MSF, in partnership with the Migrant offshore Aid Station, rescued more than 1,800 people at sea.
His last rescue involved 561 people found swamping a 14-metre boat.
“They’re packed in there in a situation where they literally can’t stand up and move around at all,” said Bryant, who has treated everything from hypothermia to dehydration to old broken bones to skin conditions and chemical burns from leaking gasoline.
“Pretty much everyone on-board has something going on — major or minor,” he said.
But the most concerning for the doctor are the emotional and psychological scars that have lingered throughout these individuals long journeys from Africa and the Middle East.
Bryant said that the type of people he has met ranged from the absolutely destitute, fleeing political persecution, to educated professionals wishing to escape repressive regimes in countries like Eritrea.
Although many understood the risks of crossing the vast body of water, he said they often felt they had no other choice.
“When they come on board we often hear that they sleep well for he first time in a year or more, just sleeping on the metal deck of the Phoenix, because they’re safe,” said Bryant.
The ship left for another tour on Sunday.
Bryant will be in the Mediterranean for the next six months.
To find out more about his experience as a MSF doctor on board the MY Phoenix visit his blog at: blogs.msf.org/en/staff/authors/simon-bryant.