Doctors Without Borders: Bernard Kouchner

Doctors Without Borders: Bernard Kouchner

Dr Bernard KOUCHNER explains the organization of "Médecins sans Frontières", founded 3 years ago. It calls on the entire medical profession to come and support, help or participate in the activities of this association for medical assistance. Bernard KOUCHNER: "we are just over 300 at the moment, doctors, nurses, paramedics. We have been in existence for about three years and we have formed an association with volunteer doctors for the needs of the emergency, that is to say to face for example the earthquake of Nicaragua, or floods in Bangladesh, to also deal with potential armed conflicts. In order to do this, we have built up a reservoir of doctors who are retrained in the disciplines of medicine and emergency surgery and ready to leave as soon as possible for destinations that we want to offer them. Since we did not want to appeal to the general public because it would constitute an additional organization, we turn to the French medical corps, first, so that he financially subsidizes our weak needs and so that he knows this organization and to try to create this vocation which at the origin of medical studies must certainly exist, go and treat patients where they need to be treated. We do not claim to be dealing with undermedicalization and the needs of physicians around the world. At the moment our needs are extremely reduced, but our resources are very low, that’s the membership fee and that’s it, plus some fairly small donations. We would like the entire medical profession, the 60,000 French doctors, to contribute to our effort. We know very well that for professional and privacy reasons they can’t leave but we hope they can help us build a stronger organization that would include a larger number of physicians and that could, it is essential, by rotation, to send technicians to countries where they are needed and for periods of time that are suitable for the French medical profession.

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File : MSF Foundation

Publication date : 13 May 1974