A global charity operating a growing fleet of hospital ships held the first medical screening for 200 potential patients since the arrival of the world’s largest non-governmental hospital ship in Liberia.

Mercy Ships, whose 522-foot flagship, the Anastasis, arrived in the war torn West African nation on March 14th, reported that a team of 18 Mercy Ships crew-members flew to the city of Ganta near the border with Guinea to screen 200 potential patients at the Ganta United Methodist Hospital.

So far, the team has scheduled 57 people for free surgeries in the operating rooms onboard the Anastasis.

"The screening was very smooth and worked out beautifully," said Norma Forrest, Mercy Ships HealthCare Services Administrator. "We were ready to start seeing patients within 20 minutes of arriving."

Hospital staff assisted with the Mercy Ships screening by translating, escorting patients, and testing blood samples.

"The staff provided by Ganta Hospital really made the screening a success," said Marie Keevern, the Advance Team member responsible for organising the Ganta screening before the ship’s arrival.

People with eye complaints were examined by Ganta ophthalmology staff. The hospital has a grant from the German Blind Mission to perform 400 cataract operations this year.

Established in 1926, Ganta Hospital has 80 beds and serves a population of 450,000 people, as reported by Mercy Ships. Despite surviving most of the civil war intact, the hospital sustained damage in the final year of the conflict and is slowly re-building. The hospital’s dedicated staff provides medical and surgical care and is restarting a community health program. In addition to supporting the hospital by treating patients onboard the Anastasis, Mercy Ships plans to deliver medical supplies to Ganta.

The organisation also plans complete over 500 surgeries during the three-month stay of the Anastasis in Liberia -- the first visit of a Mercy Ship to the war-torn West African nation.

According to Mercy Ships, medical personnel onboard the ship provide services generally unavailable to the population, including tumour removal, cleft lip correction, and Vesico-vaginal fistula (VVF) repair.

The global charity is also conducting development projects and educational programs to help re-build Liberia after 14 years of civil war, and reports that it will continue bringing "hope and healing" to Liberia in a second phase beginning in October 2005.




Kenneth Chan
Ecumenical Press