Five floating hospital ships in the offing
UNB
For the first time in the country, five fully dedicated floating hospital ships are being designed and constructed by naval architects and shipbuilding engineers exclusively from Bangladesh for marginal people, reports UNB. The floating hospital ships will be operated by Friendship, a non-governmental organisation, with the support of the Fael Khair Programme through the Islamic Development Bank (IDB). Narayanganj Engineering and Shipbuilding Limited will construct the ships, said a press release of Friendship yesterday.
The inauguration of the ships construction work was held on Sunday at Ispahanir Char of Gozaria in Munshiganj. The subsequent healthcare services will be provided in the riverine northern and southern regions of Bangladesh for the next five years to the marginalised and ultra-poor people who are deprived from access to proper medical care.
Five ships are designed from the start to be floating hospitals. With a draft of only 1.2 metre they are specifically designed to reach hard to reach areas. Four of them are 25 meters in length and one is 31 meters. All Floating ships are self-propelled with 4 decks complete with hospital facilities including operation theatre, doctors chambers and other medical facilities. First 2 ships will be delivered by end of 2018 and next 3 by first quarter of 2019.
Dr Nizad M Subai, Director of Fael Khair of IDB said Fael Khair is a fund of 266 million dollars donated by the late King of Saudi Arabia King Abdullah. The plan is to setup 75 mobile clinics in seven Asian Islamic countries.
