SUB-COMMITTEE ON
RADIOCOMMUNICATIONS AND
SEARCH AND RESCUE
4th session
Agenda item 8.2
COMSAR 4/8/6
7 April 1999
Original: FRENCH
MATTERS CONCERNING SEARCH AND RESCUE, INCLUDING THOSE RELATED TO THE 1979 SAR CONFERENCE AND THE INTRODUCTION OF THE GMDSS
Plan for the provision of maritime SAR service, including procedures for routeing distress information in the GMDSS
Medical assistance at sea and Importance of the role of telemedical assistance service
Submitted by France
SUMMARY
Executive summary: Medical assistance at sea has become one of the elements of maritime rescue. The attached draft circulars, new versions of drafts submitted to COMSAR 3 and examined by JWG6, provide governments and administrations with a number of useful ideas.
Action to be taken: Paragraph 4
Related documents: SAR Convention
1 There is now a general tendency to regard medical assistance at sea as an integral part of rescue. This approach is consistent with the SAR Convention which provides that the "search and rescue service" consists of "the performance of distress monitoring, communication, co-ordination and search and rescue functions, including provision of medical advice, initial medical assistance or medical evacuation..." (paragraph 1.3.3 of the amendment to the Convention, adopted by resolution MSC.70 (69) of 18 May 1998).
1.1 Pending the entry into force of that amendment, it seemed important for the International Maritime Organization to take this fact into account and to work, as in its other fields of action, to put in place arrangements and procedures aimed at effective enhancement of the protection of human life at sea.
1.2 That is why two documents on medical assistance at sea, COMSAR 3/9/8 submitted by Germany and France and COMSAR 3/9/9 submitted by France, were presented to COMSAR 3. They were welcomed in principle and were conveyed to the joint ICAO/IMO working group on search and rescue for consideration at its sixth session (October 1998).
