The MSC Foundation, the MSC Group and Mercy Ships International have joined forces to construct a brand new hospital ship.
On 8 April, the chairman of MSC Group and MSC Foundation, Capt. Gianluigi Aponte, MSC Group President and Member of the MSC Foundation Board, Diego Aponte, and Mercy Ships Founder, Don Stephens, finalized an settlement to kickstart the brand new challenge with a beneficiant anchor donation from MSC Foundation.
The new purpose-built hospital ship will develop the affect of Mercy Ships’ life-changing surgical procedures, anesthetic care and surgical schooling for future generations of sufferers and healthcare professionals in sub-Saharan Africa.
“I spent part of my childhood and early years in the shipping industry in the Horn of Africa,” said Capt. Aponte. “It is a region close to my heart. I saw firsthand the challenges faced by many local communities there, and this shaped my conviction that improving the availability of healthcare would bring real and lasting impact for them. It has been extremely gratifying to work with Don and provide this crucial support through his unique organization Mercy Ships. Our partnership has reaped extraordinary results already, and now we are on the verge of expanding their fleet to increase this support. I truly look forward to seeing this new ship set sail to help more communities across Africa.”
Since Mercy Ships was based in 1978, the group has supplied greater than 117,000 transformational specialised surgical procedures. These surgical procedures embody maxillofacial reconstructions, contracture launch for extreme burns, correction for orthopedic issues in kids, cleft lip and palate restore, ophthalmology and dental providers.
Mercy Ships, a non-governmental group, can be dedicated to boosting the capacities of native healthcare methods by sustainably designed surgical schooling, coaching, and advocacy applications. Mercy Ships has supplied further coaching to greater than 54,300 native professionals of their areas of experience.
Expanding its fleet with a brand new purpose-built hospital ship, designed to comparable specs because the Global Mercy™ with a concentrate on designated coaching areas, will permit Mercy Ships to extend its capability to collaborate with host nations in coaching and advocacy efforts.
The have to speed up entry to surgical care and surgical schooling in sub-Saharan Africa stays very obvious. In his welcome speech on the current West African College of Surgeons convention in Freetown, Vice President Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh of Sierra Leone said that the nation remains to be grappling with 91% unmet surgical wants. Highlighting the progress already made, he urged collaborative efforts to deal with surgical deficits.
Operating hospital ships entails transporting massive portions of important provides throughout oceans and seas to repeatedly assist surgical and coaching actions. MSC and Mercy Ships have been companions since 2011, with the MSC Group making certain logistical assist and container supply of provides to all ports of service. The infrastructure assist and logistical experience supplied by its groups in Africa ranges from MSC’s native delivery company and MSC and TiL terminals dealing with cargo to MSC and MEDLOG logistics, storage, and inland transportation providers.
In addition to this, MSC have supplied intensive technical recommendation and expertise in preparation for the brand new vessel, working with Mercy Ships to develop a design that can enhance effectivity for the group’s wants.
The new ship will function dwelling areas to accommodate roughly 600 crew members and company on board. Its hospital will span two decks and seven,000 sq. meters, that includes six working rooms, a totally geared up laboratory, and state-of-the-art coaching areas akin to a simulation lab. This makes it attainable for Mercy Ships to strengthen native surgical methods throughout its time in port, usually a 10-months discipline service.
Daniela Picco, MSC Foundation Executive Director, mentioned: “We are extremely proud of our support for Mercy Ships through grant-making and in-kind donations and of the transformative impacts their free services and training have had on 18,000 medical professionals and community leaders, and 30,300 patients of all ages through 33,200 surgeries since 2011.”
