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Two Mercy Ships to be in Tenerife over the new year for final equipping and crewing of world’s largest civilian hospital ship

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Fresh from Senegal, the Africa Mercy® joins the Global Mercy® in the Port of Granadilla before newest hospital ship begins surgical service

The hospital ship Africa Mercy® returned from Senegal this past weekend and docked near Mercy Ships’ newest hospital ship, the Global Mercy® in the Port of Granadilla.  Africa Mercy crew will support the final phase of preparation for the Global Mercy’s first surgical field service to Africa, which is scheduled to begin next February in Senegal.

A number of key medical, programmatic and administrative crew from the Africa Mercy will transfer to the Global Mercy to join existing crew and help ensure a cohesive operational start to full surgical services on board the new vessel during the Global Mercy’s first ever surgical mission to Dakar Senegal next year.

Mercy Ships is an international NGO that operates hospital ships to deliver free, world-class healthcare services, medical capacity building, and health system strengthening to those with little access to safe surgical care.

Destination: Senegal

The Africa Mercy was docked in Dakar since February of this year, to complete surgical commitments that were delayed due the covid outbreak the past year.  This year Mercy Ships provided training and mentoring for 1,145 Senegalese healthcare professionals to encourage and empower them to provide safer surgery for their patients.

This included training on the Global Mercy which visited Senegal in May for inaugural events hosted by His Excellency President Macky Sall.   Training and mentoring took place onboard and in hospitals across the country. The 765 patients who received orthopaedic, maxillo-facial, reconstructive, women’s health and general surgeries this past year on the Africa Mercy came from 13 regions across rural and urban Senegal.

“We are thankful that Tenerife continues to be a home port of call since 1991 for our ships during many significant transitions like this.   Due to this consistency, our ships have been able to benefit our African partners who are motivated to care for their patients well and to continue growing as healthcare professionals.  We look forward to our new ship returning next year to continue building on the work and relationships accomplished thus far,” stated Gerardo Vangioni, President Mercy Ships Spain.

Doubling the impact in Africa

While the Global Mercy begins this initial mission, the Africa Mercy will undergo a significant refit in Durban South Africa before returning to service on the East African coast.  When both ships are fully on either side of Africa in 2024, Mercy Ships will aim to perform more than 5,000 surgeries, more than 28,000 dental treatments and train more than 2,800 medical professionals each year. Mercy Ships serves those with little access to life-transforming surgeries and supports African nations with additional training for health professionals while strengthening infrastructures.

The world’s largest private hospital ship, the Global Mercy

While in Port of Granadilla these past months, technicians have been fitting out the hospital with final equipment and testing systems.  Unique as a ship in the passenger class, the Global Mercy is 174 meters in length, 28.6 meters in width and a gross tonnage of 37,000. It has 6 operating rooms, 200 beds, laboratory, general outpatient clinics and ophthalmological and dental offices. The total area of the hospital department is 7,000 m².  It has capacity for 641 crew members.  Both ships together have crew from more than 60 nations around the world.

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ABOUT MERCY SHIPS:

Global health for the last two decades has focused on individual diseases, while surgical care in low-resource countries has not received the attention it needs. Lack of surgical care results in almost 17 million deaths annually.

Mercy Ships is an international faith-based organization that operates hospital ships to deliver free, world-class healthcare services, medical capacity building, and health system strengthening to those with little access to safe surgical care. Since 1978, Mercy Ships has worked in more than 55 countries, with the last three decades focused entirely on partnering with African nations. Each year, volunteer professionals from over 60 countries serve on board the world’s two largest non-governmental hospital ships, the Africa Mercy® and the Global Mercy™. Professionals such as surgeons, dentists, nurses, health trainers, cooks, and engineers dedicate their time and skills to the cause. Mercy Ships has offices in 16 countries and an Africa Bureau. For more information, visit www.mercyships.org  and follow us @MercyShips on social media.  For more information in Spain click on www.nde.ong