Is There a Doctor On Board and How Available Is Treatment Whilst At Sea?

By Your Health Magazine Contributor

Your Health Magazine Contributor

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Is There a Doctor On Board and How Available Is Treatment Whilst At Sea?

There are always going to be occurrences of ill health, particularly in a confined environment, so that those undertaking maritime careers either on board or in ports can little avoid incidents where medical advice will need to be sought, particularly on long voyages.

While on board commercial cargo vessels, in modern times, there is no compulsory requirement for a registered doctor. Instead, there will be a designated medical officer on board that will often be the chief mate or even the captain. 

Approaches to medical provision have evolved slowly over the years, mostly in line with advanced treatments and improved communication, examples of which are telemedicine and helicopter evacuation.

The fact that changes to policy have evolved so slowly is that elements of care are often dictated by association to three different bodies, namely the ILO (International Labour Organization), the IMO (International Maritime Organization) and the WHO (World Health Organization). Each has legal obligations attached, derived from international conventions.

Difficulties arise when a seafarer is trained in medical care in one country, be on a ship with a medical chest equipped with specific resources from another, while he or she might be receiving telemedicine advice from another.

It is the function of the ‘sickbay’, an area of the ship or rig where normally the reporting, treatment and monitoring of the patient is done. Occasionally problems arise when there are multiple injured or there are patients with infectious diseases, in that there may be unexpected pressures placed on those in authority at the time.

On cruise ships and chemical tankers showers can be available, in the latter’s case because a member of the crew may have been exposed to toxins. In the former’s case a fully-fledged hospital will probably be in operation, since obviously, there exists a larger number of people aboard. Ships serving diving operations may have a decompression chamber as well.

With up-to-date communications, ships can often make use of a registered professional on shore to receive instruction when faced with a problematic situation. It is the case that modern provision for medical care is an obligation rather than an option. Distance of voyage normally premeditates what is required to run the sickbay on a cargo ship. It is possible that under the guidance of a TMAS (Telemedical Marine Assistance Service), a member of the crew may have to carry out advanced medical procedures while on board.

The Internet and facility to convey the particulars of a given situation by pictures are by far the most effective way of getting the point across. In this case an officer can show a wound, rash or injury to the TMAS official and receive on-the-spot instruction to relieve the situation.

Video consultation is the best means of achieving your aim in the hospital room. This facilitates obtaining a visual response to the treatment being provided or tested in real time. A portable web cam is by far the best way of achieving this, and once you have an internet connection, a phone or pad with a camera, most problems can be solved or at least the foremost way of progressing becomes evident, given the situation.

Hopefully, in the future, issues with communication and the language barriers in general will be overcome too.