The world's largest non-governmental hospital ship, Mercy Ships' 'Africa Mercy', is set to sail to Africa this week following eight years of conversion work and global fundraising.
The former Danish rail ferry has been converted into a state-of-the-art hospital ship at a cost of over £30m and will provide free healthcare and community development services to the poorest people of Africa.
The Africa Mercy is due to sail on its inaugural trip to Liberia on 4 May.
UK based philanthropist Ann Gloag, who has donated substantially to the project, said today: "When I originally put up the first donation to buy the ship I knew it would be a long, tough project and it certainly has been. However when you consider that this ship used to be a rail ferry and is now a state-of-the-art hospital ship, all the hard work has been well worthwhile."
The Africa Mercy is the fourth ship to be operated by the international charity Mercy Ships, which has provided more than £350m worth of services since its inception in 1978.
More than 400 volunteer crew will be taking part in the ship's first field service in Africa providing free medical care, capacity building, relief aid and community development programmes to the people of war-torn Liberia.
£1m worth of hospital supplies, equipment and materials have been loaded onto the ship, transforming the vessel from an empty shell into a state-of-the-art hospital ship and small village.
In addition to the hospital supplies, essential goods including 3000 toilet rolls (a three month supply), 400 waste paper bins, 26.8 tons of frozen meat and fish (a four month supply), 420kg of coffee courtesy of Starbucks and 4,000kg of breakfast cereal have been loaded.
The projected surgical capacity onboard the Africa Mercy is approximately 7,000 operations per year including cataract removal/lens implant, tumour removal, cleft lip and palate reconstruction, orthopaedics and obstetric fistula repair.
Over the years Mercy Ships has treated more than 200,000 people in village medical clinics, performing more than 32,000 surgeries and 180,000 dental treatments, and completing more than 800 construction, agriculture and water development projects.
Judy Polkinhorn, Executive Director, Mercy Ships UK, said: "A huge thank you goes out to everyone who has been involved in the whole project from start to finish. It is a great pleasure to know that the ship will be sailing to Africa shortly to carry out life saving treatments and giving hope back to thousands of families in the poorest communities of the world.
