A floating hospital which is designed to bring hope and relief from suffering to thousands of people in developing countries is to set sail on its inaugural voyage next Friday.

The former Danish rail ferry was bought eight years ago by Scottish philanthropist Ann Gloag as part of her work with charity Mercy Ships UK.

Now, following a £30m transformation, the Africa Mercy is the world's largest charity hospital ship.

The vessel will travel to Liberia, where volunteer staff will perform lifesaving operations on children and adults.

Yesterday, aboard the boat at the port of Blyth, Northumberland, Ms Gloag said: "It has been a long, hard journey but it is really great to see the ship looking so well. I'm very excited about seeing it in action.

"Mercy Ships is very close to my heart and the work it does is fantastic. Everybody is a volunteer paying their own way so every penny goes to charity.

"A ship like this can have an amazing impact on the healthcare of a whole country.

"You can fly big teams of specialists in and struggle to achieve what you want because parts may be stolen or there is no water.

"With hospital ships everything is already working and ready to go the day it arrives."

Mercy Ships has been operating since 1978 and in that time has used three hospital ships to accommodate surgery on cleft lips, tumours and facial reconstruction.

The charity has treated 200,000 people in village medical clinics and performed more than 32,000 surgeries and 180,000 dental treatments.

Lord McColl, a Glasgow-born surgeon who has worked with the charity for 12 years, is chairman of Mercy Ships UK.

He said: "It is terrific. We are working with lovely people from 30 nations and everyone works so well together.

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

"I have worked as a volunteer surgeon on many occasions with Mercy Ships and I get withdrawal symptoms when I am not out there. I am very much looking forward to working on this purposely converted hospital ship."

Africa Mercy, which originally cost £4.1m, is equipped with one hospital deck with operating theatre units, wards and an intensive care unit. It contains a CT scanner, X-ray and laboratory services. The ship will operate for around 20 years.

Pathologist Ed Sheffield will also work with the team in Africa from his base in Bristol to diagnose conditions after receiving images of tumours over the internet.

The remote operation means surgeons on the ship will be able to make quick diagnoses to perform surgery.

About 450 volunteers will travel to Liberia next week.

Among the crew is Catherine Ferrier, 59, from Perth, who trained with Ms Gloag as a nurse. She is currently volunteering in the kitchens but hopes to work in the wards.

"I saw the ship when it was completely empty," she said. "Now it looks like a proper hospital. I'm really looking forward to getting to Liberia."

For Ms Gloag, who has donated around £7.5m to the Africa Mercy, the maiden voyage is the culmination of a team effort over the past eight years.

She has previously visited another of the charity's three ships, the Anastasis.



What's on board

  • frica Mercy is a 16,572-tonne vessel.
  • Its hospital deck contains six operating theatres and 78 patient beds in recovery, intensive care and low dependency wards.
  • It will have a crew of around 450 and boasts 474 berths, from single to family cabins.
  • The crew includes doctors, dentists, nurses, community developers, teachers, builders, cooks and engineers.
  • The ship has the capacity to perform around 7000 operations onboard each year. They range from cataract removal to orthopaedics.
  • It carries £1m of supplies.