Hospital Ship Arrives In Madagascar to Deliver Surgical Care and Training

TOAMASINA, MADAGASCAR 01 Feb ​ 2024 - International health charity Mercy Ships has just returned to Madagascar to bring transformative surgical education and life-changing free surgeries.

State-of-the-art hospital ship, the Africa Mercy® has arrived at the island nation to build on the charity’s longstanding collaboration and will provide specialized surgeries in various fields, including maxillofacial and ear nose and throat, general, pediatric specialized general, pediatric orthopedic, and reconstructive plastics.

A 2016 study of Madagascar revealed that only 20% of the population can access surgical services within a two-hour timeframe, and up to 95% would face financial ruin if they required surgery. With a scarcity of physicians, approximately 20 for every 100,000 people, the prospect of receiving necessary surgical treatment seems unattainable for many.

In Mercy Ships’ fourth field service, with preceding visits in 1996, 2015-2016, the charity will begin by focusing on enhanced partnerships and relationship-building as part of its education, training and advocacy (ETA) program in combination with building up its surgical schedule.

Esperant Mulumba, Mercy Ships Country Director in Madagascar said: “We plan to spend the weeks immediately following the ship’s arrival running patient registration in several different locations, as well as starting the dental program March 2024 The first patients will come on board for their life-changing surgeries starting from the end of May when we have a full complement of volunteers needed to ensure surgeries can go ahead as planned without delays and rescheduling.” ​

Mercy Ships is actively collaborating with Madagascar's Ministry of Health to identify the most pressing needs and strengthen the country's surgical systems in the long term. Through the ETA strategy, the organization aims to increase the number of surgical providers, provide training across the surgical ecosystem, develop sustainable educational programs, establish a network of healthcare providers, and advocate for the importance of surgery in healthcare globally.

This focus aligns with a need for quality education and training that emerged in a recent evaluation carried out by Mercy Ships in Madagascar.

Mr Mulumba said: “There is a huge desire within the health system in Madagascar to improve the quality of education. We will be able to leverage the availability of the ship in the port of Toamasina as a platform through which we can strengthen the surgical training program that the government has by providing residencies and other sorts of training opportunities for local surgeons, anesthetists, and other professionals of the healthcare system, particularly those related to the surgical ecosystem.”

Over the course of previous visits, Mercy Ships collaborated with the government and Ministry of Health to provide more than 6,425 life-changing surgical procedures and over 52,395 dental procedures. In addition to delivering life-changing surgical and dental care, Mercy Ships has a longstanding commitment to education, having trained 2,019 healthcare professionals in the past.

Mr Mulumba added: “In our last field service, we were able to provide life-transforming, life-changing, life-enabling surgeries that have allowed the people that benefited from them to be part of the communities they come from and allowed certain people to return to their jobs. They brought a certain dimension of hope that otherwise would not have been experienced… an impact that we can't measure. We’re seeing professors that are still teaching the simulation courses that were initiated by Mercy Ships, and we’re seeing the interns that are still benefiting from this.”

There are still some volunteering positions available to find your place on board.