Mercy Ships provides free medical services to people living in countries measured by the United Nations’ Human Development Index as the very bottom in providing healthcare for their populations.
For 40 years, Mercy Ships has focused on countries that face such formidable challenges providing for their people.
The UN Lancet Commission on Global Surgery studied surgery in low-income countries and concluded that billions of people lack access to safe and timely surgical and anesthesia care. During four decades, Mercy Ships has responded to this challenge by providing free surgical, medical and dental services to countries with very limited healthcare.
Mercy Ships delivers a customized partnership model for each country it is invited to serve. In order to address the medical needs of the people in those countries, Mercy Ships offer local capacity-building programs while the hospital ship is in the country. Mercy Ships will normally provide specific courses and mentoring for 2,000 local healthcare and medical professionals.
Learn more and give your support
The charity operates Africa Mercy, a former Danish rail ferry. The ship was fitted out at the Cammell Laird shipyard at Hebburn in Tyneside, England. The ferry’s large train deck facilitated its conversion into a hospital ship. The eight-deck Africa Mercy’s lower decks are a modern hospital with five Operating theaters, an Intensive Care Unit, an ophthalmology unit, a CT scanner, x-ray, laboratories, and a recovery ward with beds for 82 patients. In addition to the ship’s lab capabilities, ship physicians can consult with pathologists in the U.S. via satellite communications.
On its upper decks, the ship has accommodations for 484 crewmembers including families, couples and individuals. The ship has 126 cabins, a day care center, a school for all ages up through the last year of high school, a library, a launderette, a small supermarket, a restaurant, a gymnasium, shops and a donated Starbucks cafe. A fleet of 28 vehicles travels with the ship, for use in Mercy Ships land-based operations. The vessel provides a platform for taking care of the poorest of the poor.
Mercy Ships is the charity partner of Nor-Shipping 2019. On behalf of both Nor-Shipping, Mercy Ship and the capable crew at Africa Mercy, we thank you for your trust and on-going support. With your help, we will work toward transforming the healthcare outcomes in Africa.
Learn more and give your support at www.mercyships.no
Mercy Ships is the charity partner of Nor-Shipping 2019
Edited by Øystein Samnøen, Mercy Ships
