Seafarers’ Access To Medical Care A Matter Of Life And Death

By MI News Network|In: Shipping News|Last Updated on September 24, 2021

The Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) as well as the Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO) have actually provided a joint declaration requiring port as well as seaside States to help with the punctual disembarkation of seafarers for healthcare as an issue of “life or death”; to focus on seafarers for COVID-19 inoculation; as well as to assign seafarers as essential employees, acknowledging seafarers’ beneficial payment to globe profession.

In the joint declaration (Circular Letter No4204/Add42), IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim as well as ILO Director-General Guy Rider claim seafarers are dealing with troubles in accessing healthcare as well as highlight the “moral obligation to ensure seafarers can access medical care ashore without delay, whenever they need it, and to extend medical assistance on board should the need arise by allowing qualified doctors and dentists to visit ships. It is also important that a medical assessment be conducted prior to administering any treatment, which could include telemedicine assessment provided by international health providers.”

“Receiving such care can be a matter of life or death for seafarers who fall ill while working on ships. The international community should do its utmost to support those who have maintained the global supply chain under pandemic conditions over the last 18 months and keep carrying on often despite enormous personal hardships,” claim the Director-General of ILO as well as the Secretary-General of IMO.

Image Credits: IMO

The joint declaration notes that “almost 14 months after issuing the ‘Recommendations for port and coastal States on the prompt disembarkation of seafarers for medical care ashore during the COVID-19 pandemic’ (Circular Letter No.4204/Add.23), seafarers are still struggling to access such care when needed. Advocacy from Member States, the maritime industry, social partners and seafarers themselves has once again brought the plight of seafarers to the fore.”

As preserved in ILO’s 2006 Maritime Labour Convention (MLC 2006), it is incumbent upon Member States to guarantee seafarers onboard ships in their area are admitted to clinical centers onto land, ought to they call for instant healthcare, consisting of oral treatment (See the Resolution worrying the execution as well as functional application of the MLC, 2006 throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, embraced by the Special Tripartite Committee of the MLC, 2006 in April 2021.) The lawful responsibility to provide support to seafarers in distress, consisting of clinical support, is likewise an inherent part of IMO conventions, specifically the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS); the International Convention on MAritme Search as well as Rescue (SAR); as well as the Convention on the Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic (FAL).

The joint declaration once more advises Governments to identify the critical significance of the maritime field as well as, in accordance with UN General Assembly resolution A/75/17 embraced on 1 December 2020, to assign seafarers as essential employees as well as to treat them because of this by offering accessibility to healthcare. Circular Letter No.4204/Add35/Rev7 has the present listing of IMO Member States having actually informed IMO that they have actually marked seafarers (as well as various other aquatic workers, as suitable) as essential employees.

Governments are advised to focus on seafarers in their nationwide COVID-19 inoculation programs, according to the THAT SAGE Roadmap for Prioritizing use COVID-19 Vaccines in the Context of Limited Supplies, as upgraded on 16 July 2021, as well as to provide
WHO-approved Emergency Use Listing (EUL) injections to guarantee their inoculation standing is acknowledged globally. The listing of WHO-approved EUL injections comes at https://extranet.who.int/pqweb/vaccines/covid-19-vaccines

The ILO as well as IMO heads likewise motivate Governments to identify the function various other aquatic workers play in promoting international profession as well as, any place feasible, to likewise immunize them on a concern basis.

Information obtained by IMO as well as ILO suggests that 24 nations have actually so far responded to the clarion telephone call by executing seafarer inoculation programs, or indicating their intent to do so, in marked ports within their territories. A listing of these nations as well as their component ports comes at https://icma.as/vaccines.

The joint declaration states: “We are extremely grateful to these countries but urge more to step forward to accelerate, in particular, the vaccination of seafarers serving international shipping. Government agencies, industry, labour and seafarer welfare groups continue to work assiduously to facilitate and/or deliver vaccines for seafarers. However, much remains to be done. We shall continue to work with our sister UN agencies, Governments and industry bodies to address the ongoing needs of seafarers and to safeguard their basic rights, so that they may continue to facilitate the global economy.”