Doctor on the migration front line
One of the first witnesses of the European refugee crisis was Dr Pietro Bartolo. As the chief of health services on the Italian island Lampedusa, Dr Bartolo has been providing medical care to more than 250 000 migrants and refugees since 1991. He has met every single migrant who arrives on the island and has never missed any boat arrivals. On a daily basis, Dr Bartolo faces the most difficult decisions to make as a doctor and as a human being.
Lampedusa is often referred to as the gateway to Europe. The small Italian island is the continent’s southernmost outpost. This is also the first soil that refugees step foot on, having travelled from North Africa in quest of a better future for themselves and their children. They are fleeing war, torture, humiliation, starvation, as well as dangerous living conditions. There is so much determination to reach Europe, that lives are risked in order to make this perilous journey.
Often at the mercy of the smugglers, the risk of drowning is heightened as poor quality boats are used, which are usually overloaded.
At Lampedusa’s port, every new arrival is immediately examined by medical officials, to identify those who are injured or ill, from the relatively healthy.
Many of the injuries and illnesses that are diagnosed upon arrival by medical officers, are chiefly connected with the severe conditions of travel: wounds, dehydration, hypothermia and chemical burns caused by petrol spillages that occurinside the vessel. Many of the female refugees who have travelled through Libya have experienced rape or sexual assault.
Dr Bartolo reports that in addition to the assistance from medical services, members of uniformed services and ordinary residents of Lampedusa, make every effort to rescue and support refugees who arrive on the island. Unfortunately, there are moments when despite their sincerest intentions, they too, are helpless in the face of tragedy.
Dr Bartolo has witnessed the aftermath of many refugee catastrophes at sea. He has seen more dead people than any one person should have to witness. He recalls the case of a woman who was in labour when the vessel began to sink in sea. Unfortunately, the mother and baby did not survive the catastrophe, and they were spotted with the umbilical cord still attached to one another. ”I put mother and newborn in the same coffin. I didn’t cut the umbilical cord, because I didn’t want to separate them” Bartolo says.
The sombre experiences involved in some of the doctor’s daily duties, are occasionally compensated by moments of happiness. Dr Bartolo recalls the time that a young woman, who was assumed dead, was resuscitated back to life, following a half hour heart massage.
Dr Pietro Bartolo mentions that he retells these stories, in the hope that they serve for one purpose: to sensitize someone to this solemn situation- someone who can perhaps identify the solution to this crisis. Without a solution, people will continue to suffer and lose their lives, in the perilous quest to reach Europe.
