Mercy ship is set to sail

Apr 25 2007 By Robert Brooks, The Journal

A ship of mercy will be leaving a North port next month, bound for war-torn West Africa with a cargo of hope.

The Africa Mercy, which is currently docked at Blyth in Northumberland, is the latest vessel to join the international Mercy Ships flotilla, and will make her maiden voyage to Liberia on May 4.

Formerly a Dutch rail ferry, she has spent the last eight years being converted into a state-of-the-art hospital ship at a cost of over £30m.

And her mission will be to provide free healthcare and community development services to the poorest people of Africa. So far the global charity has provided more than £350m worth of services since its inception in 1978.

Around £1m worth of hospital supplies and medical equipment have been loaded on board in the last week, as Africa Mercy's 400-strong volunteer crew prepare for their journey.

When it arrives in Liberia on May 22, its team of surgeons will be able to perform 7,000 operations per year including cataract removal and lens implants, tumour removal, cleft lip and palate reconstruction.

Lord McColl, chairman of Mercy Ships UK and vice-chair of Mercy Ships International, also works as a surgeon on board the charity's vessels. Speaking at Blyth yesterday, he said: "I have worked as a volunteer surgeon on many occasions with Mercy Ships and I am very much looking forward to working on this purposely converted state-of-the-art hospital ship.

"The life changing operations that we undertake are common practice in developed countries but are simply not available to the poorest people in Africa."

Lord McColl described how he had carried out cataract removal surgery on an earlier mission, on a pair of African twins who had been blind from birth.

"To witness them seeing their mother and each other for the first time in their lives was an incredibly moving experience," he said.

"Within an hour they were able to stand and walk by themselves."

Also aboard is engineer Richard Smith, from Westerhope, Newcastle, who at 70 years old is the most experienced crew member in his field. "This will be my sixth year with Mercy Ships, since retiring as an engineer at Newcastle General Hospital," he said.

"In my younger days I served in the Merchant Navy, so it's familiar territory. It's such a worthy cause, I'm delighted to be involved."

Over the years Mercy Ships has treated more than 200,000 people in village medical clinics.