Mercy Ships visiting the V&A Waterfront

World’s largest civilian hospital ship will be docked at the V&A Waterfront for two weeks

[Cape Town, South Africa: 29 September 2014] Mercy Ships is coming to Cape Town. The Africa Mercy, the world’s largest civilian hospital ship, will be docked in the V&A Waterfront from Monday, 29 September to Wednesday, 15 October, before continuing on to Madagascar for its next field service.

Docked at Quay 6 outside the Table Bay Hotel at the V&A Waterfront, the ship will play host to the public with three consecutive Open Days from from Friday, 10 October to Sunday, 12 October (no booking required).

The Africa Mercy provides free medical care both on- and off-ship to thousands of patients suffering from a variety of curable medical conditions all across Africa. The ship, which is operated and staffed by volunteers, is currently sailing from the Canary Islands en route to Madagascar, but will stop in Cape Town for two weeks to finalise preparations.

The Mercy Ship is equipped with five state-of-the-art operating rooms and is a fully modern hospital specialising in maxillo-facial, reconstructive, plastics, orthopaedic, ophthalmic, dental, and obstetric fistula surgeries. During their last ten-month field service in the Republic of Congo, Mercy Ships provided 2 524 total surgeries and anticipate a similar outlook for their next field service in Madagascar. The surgeries and care are provided at no cost to the patients and the focus of care is those patients who have very little or no access to specialised surgical healthcare.

John Rae, Mercy Ships Southern Africa National Director, is excited to have the ship on home territory and looks forward to showing the people of South Africa the exciting things the Africa Mercy is doing: “The forgotten poor of the world is our target market and we rely on volunteers to that end,” he says. “Our goal now is to see more South Africans fill key roles on the ship in the next few years.”

Mercy Ships uses hospital ships to deliver free, world-class healthcare services, capacity building and sustainable development to those without access in the developing world. Founded in 1978 by Don and Deyon Stephens, Mercy Ships has worked in more than 70 countries providing services valued at more than R11 billion, treating more than 2.5 million direct beneficiaries. Each year Mercy Ships has more than 1 600 volunteers from more than 40 nations, including South Africa. Professionals including surgeons, dentists, nurses, healthcare trainers, teachers, cooks, seamen, engineers and agriculturalists donate their time and skills to the effort. Mercy Ships seeks to transform individuals and serve nations one at a time.

During their stay at the V&A Waterfront, John Rae and specialised crew members will be available for interviews and information with limited access to the ship itself. Interviews can be arranged by contacting John directly (contact details below).

For more information, please visit: www.mercyships.org.za

Or follow Mercy Ships on Twitter: @MercyShips