MV Africa Mercy - Surgical and Medical Care

Surgical and Medical Care

The ship is set up to provide onboard surgical care, an ICU and a recovery ward. Land-based medical operations provide patient screenings for surgeries, health and dental care, mental health programs, and palliative care for terminally ill patients.

The operating rooms of the Africa Mercy are equipped for specific surgeries that are greatly needed in the countries that the ship visits. These surgeries can also be performed efficiently and repeatedly. Conditions treated on board the ship include head and neck tumors, goiters, hernias, cleft lip and palate, cataracts, crossed eyes (Strabismus), bowed legs (genu varum), club foot, burns and burn scars, childbirth injuries and the gangrene-like childhood disease called noma. Because medical care is so scarce in the countries that Mercy Ships serves, these medical conditions often become severe enough to be disfiguring, which means that patients are often shunned by their communities. The surgical correction of their medical problems assists patients in reintegrating with their communities and resuming normal lives.

On land, a screening clinic is set up to evaluate potential patients for surgeries, often in a large area like a sports arena. Volunteers set up medical and dental clinics to treat people in the surrounding communities. A HOPE Center established near the ship provides extended medical care to patients. In addition, volunteers train local healthcare workers in providing primary healthcare, and they teach workers to train others in providing healthcare. During its Sierra Leone Field Service between February and June 2011, the Africa Mercy crew performed more than 750 surgeries and 12,000 dental procedures.