Escalating violence has forced foreign aid and rights groups to pull out of the rebel stronghold Special coverage page
LONDON (AlertNet) - Libyan troops pushed forward towards the eastern insurgent stronghold of Benghazi on Thursday and launched air raids on its outskirts as momentum gathered in support of air raids to stop Muammar Gaddafi's forces.
Escalating violence in the North African desert state has forced staff from medical charity Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch to pull out of the rebel stronghold of more than 750,000 people.
MSF Emergency Coordinator Simon Burroughs, now on standby in Alexandria, Egypt, spoke to AlertNet about how the Libyan doctors in Benghazi are coping, security fears and MSF's plans.
How are the doctors coping?
We're in regular contact with them (the doctors there). They say they're coping with the situation at the moment but they're very worried, I think, about what would happen, if the health facilities became overwhelmed and if there was an attack on Benghazi. There are five large hospitals in Benghazi. They have very dedicated staff, very well-trained staff. They did need some assistance with medical supplies which MSF was able to provide. But having said that, any health system, any hospital system anywhere in the world would be overwhelmed if there were mass casualties from urban fighting. It's hard to prepare for this.
Do you get the sense that the doctors there will stay put no matter what happens?
Their professionalism and dedication has been incredible. They're really very committed. One of their major problems was the fact that lots of expat nurses had fled the country -- workers from the Philippines etc. But ... a lot of medical students, 4th, 5th year students have then volunteered to go and work and fill in these positions. The spirit, the volunteerism is very strong.
What kinds of cases were you seeing and treating?
We had one of our medical staff working in Ajdabiyah in their surgery there. I think in a 10-hour overnight shift when the fighting was more towards Ras Lanuf ... they dealt with 10 gunshot wounds coming in and at the end of the shift they managed to help with a C-section (Caesarian delivery of) two baby girls, twins.
Twice we tried to get to Ras Lanuf to do an assessment of the needs there, but twice we were forced back by the fighting, by the insecurity.
We also had planned to set up a supplementary unit, an operating theatre in Brega, this is the next place to the east of Ras Lanuf. The fighting overwhelmed this place too quickly before we even had a chance to set anything up and there were reports of shelling close to the hospital so it was obviously too insecure there.
The general health pattern at the moment is people are not really going to the hospitals unless it's an emergency situation. The primary healthcare is, I think, under control but people aren't seeking medical care unless it's really necessary.
Why did you leave Benghazi?
Security's one of our main concerns. We can't help anybody if we're also under threat or targeted ourselves. We've all seen the reports in the media about shelling close to hospitals and also attacks on ambulances and medical personnel.
In Benghazi itself while we were there it was quite calm but the tension was rising as the fighting moved further towards the east.
The nightmare scenario is to be caught up and overwhelmed in a very dangerous situation. We monitored the situation, and took the decision to pull back before something catastrophic happened.
To be caught in a situation where it looks like it would be impossible to evacuate by road, by air would also be impossible -- dangerous with the airforce flying but also anti-aircraft guns shooting at anything's that flying -- by boat as well again from the air threat but also it seems there are naval forces also involved in this now. A good evacuation is not a desperate thing at the last moment.
Under what circumstances would MSF return?
What ideally we'd like to see is for people to respect health facilities, medical personnel and vehicles. That would be a good staring point to consider going back in.
Whether they were being deliberately targeted or not if there's shelling close to medical facilities it's not safe to work. It's not really acceptable to try to work under those conditions, which of course makes access for people who are wounded or with medical needs to medical facilities very, very difficult.
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