Turkey to build own hospital ship for disasters

ANKARA – Anadolu Agency

The Health Ministry is set to start operating a hospital ship for natural disasters and extraordinary situations, which will have the capacity to operate in the seas around Turkey, as well as elsewhere.

The ministry is planning to open a tender for the project in January 2014. The ship is planned to be built in Turkey’s shipbuilding yards with domestic financing.

The hospital ship will provide policlinic services in various ports when not on duty during disasters. It will also visit a number of countries at certain intervals for training and aid missions, and will be able to sail in the ocean and provide help overseas during disasters.

The ship, which will be 203 meters in length, 29 meters in height, and 26 meters in width. It will also have one heliport and a total of 10 decks.

It will have many operations rooms including 15 examination rooms, two intervention rooms, policlinics in 17 branches, and eight surgery rooms.

Some 316 health workers and 35 crew members will be working aboard the ship.

Health Minister Mehmet Müezzinoğlu said on April 19 that the cost of the ship would be approximately 200 million Turkish Liras.

Turkey’s ship will be built exclusively as a hospital ship, according to health ministry sources. This will be in contrast to similar hospital ships used by the world’s leading countries, which have typically been converted from military or passenger ships.