- Africa Mercy
Africa Mercy is the newest
ship to enter service withMercy Ships , who have been operating hospital ships serving developing nations since 1978. The M/V "Africa Mercy" entered active service in Liberia in June 2007. It is currently the largest civilian floatinghospital and even thoughMercy Ships has now retired all their earlier ships this new vessel has a greater capacity than the 3 previous ships combined.Development
The project started in March 1999. The former
rail ferry named "Dronning Ingrid" (Queen Ingrid) was bought in Denmark. Slowly over the next few years the ship was turned into the largest non-governmental hospital ship in the world at a final cost of over US$62 million.The ship
The size of the ship is 16,572 tons; she is 152 meter long and 23 meter wide.
Facilities
The
M/V "Africa Mercy" is a floatinghospital with 6 operating theatres an ICU unit,laboratories , x-ray, and hospital beds for 78 patients. She has accommodation for 484 crew onboard, including families, couples and singles. The ship has 126 cabins, aschool for all ages up to the last year of high school, aday care center, a library, a laundrette, starbucks cafe (donated by the company) and a small supermarket.References
* [http://www.mercyships.org Mercy Ships website]
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