Historically navies and missionaries of charity have reached out to different shores to provide succor. The two are once again out at sea in their white-boats to spread health and harmony.
As long as there have been ships engaged in naval hostilities there have been boats designated to sea-lift casualties. During the battle of Somme, two merchant ships - Maheno and Marama - were converted into hospital ships to bring war wounded from the western front to New Zealand. At the end of World War I, the Royal Navy had some 77 hospital ships in its inventory. Russia lost its hospital Ship, Portugal, to German U Boat action during the First World War. In 1917, America built a custom-made medical ship named USS Relief (AH-1).
USNS Mercy and its sister-ship USNS Comfort are the two biggest floating hospitals in the world, each armed with 1000 beds capacity. Since the mid-1980s the two have contributed their medical-might both in war as well as in peace. The seagoing-white-twins - San Clemente-class supertankers in their earlier avatar - were launched in 1976 from San Diego. The 270 meters long, 69,500 ton, USNS Comfort along with USNS Mercy is the biggest hospital in the United States. Mercy provides humanitarian relief in the Pacific and the Indian Ocean, Comfort mainly operates in the Caribbean and Latin America.
A hospital ship is a critical fleet-asset. Last year, US Navy Institute News reported that USNS Comfort (T-AH-20), ‘is counted in the service’s ‘battle force’ as part of a new plan that reclassifies existing ships by assets in high demand by combatant commanders.’
The US Navy is contemplating more maneuverable and deployable medical ships that can be easily berthed and are better designed to take-in and discharge patients in unfavorable environments. The US Navy and Marine Corps is contemplating the conversion of its six Newport (LST-179) class tank landing ships into 200 bed-hospital ships.
Besides, dedicated hospital ships the US aircraft carrier, George Washington is also equipped with the 51-bed hospital. Russian destroyers too have a provision to convert the officer’s wardrooms into operation theaters in case of an emergency. Britain converted HMS Hecla, an oceangoing survey vessel and also S.S. Uganda, a civilian cruise ship into a hospital ships during the Falklands war.
The other major player in the military-hospital ship segment in China, which officially launched its hospital ship project in 1976. In 1991, China’s South Sea Fleet was augmented with two hospital ships, Y832 Nan Kang and Y833 Bei Kang with 100-bed facilities each. In 2007 China purchased the Project 320 OB’ class hospital ship to kick-start its white ship fleet. The project was abandoned by the Russian shipyards in the late 1990s.
The Chinese Navy (PLAN) commissioned its first hospital ship, Peace Ark, in 2008. The 583 feet longship with a displacement of 10,000 tons was built by Guangzhou Shipyard International Company Limited.
Peace Ark is an integral part of Chinese naval diplomacy. Since 2010, Peace Ark has been on five ‘Harmonious Mission’ across Asia-Pacific and Africa. In 2013, the 300-bed hospital ship, including 20 intensive care unit beds and eight operating theaters, provided relief to the victims of Super Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.
In June 2014, Peace Ark along with other PLAN ships participated in Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) naval exercises held at Hawaii every two years. In 2015, the Hospital ship paid a goodwill visit to seven countries in the Asia Pacific – Australia, French Polynesia, USA, Mexico, Barbados, Grenada, and Peru. During its five day halt at Port of San Diego, California in November 2015, Peace Ark was tended to by its US counterpart USNS Mercy.
Mercy Ships, an international charity has contracted China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC) for constructing the world’s biggest, 37,000 GRT ‘white-ship’, costing more than $100 million. According to experts the cost of 69,500 ton US Navy Hospital Ship Comfort is around $600 million.
Mercy Ships International with headquarters in Garden Valley, Texas, is the largest non-government operator of hospital ships. Towards the fag end of 1970s it converted four ocean liners and ferries into four floating hospitals.
It is for the first time that the charity has invested in building a hospital from scratch. The ship being built at Tianjin Xingang Shipyard is designed by Finnish firm Deltamarin with Stena RoRo managing the actual project construction. The ship has 277 cabins equipped with 641 beds, including 109 intensive care units.
The demand for hospital ships in the NGO sector is growing. India’s first hospital ship is under construction, at Pandu shipyard, to provide healthcare services to island communities living along the Brahmaputra River in Assam. It is a collaborative effort between the Centre for North East Studies and Policy Research (C-NES), which runs 15 boat clinics in 13 districts of Assam, and the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). Such hospital launches, primarily non-sea-going riverine crafts, are in use in countries like Brazil, Bolivia, Chilie, Peru Cameroon, and Thailand.
One anticipates the land-based private hospital operators to launch their operations in the maritime domain. This assessment is based on the increasing trends in hospital tourism, where relatively in-expensive medical facilities from countries like India may reach out to rich patients rather than making them fly to India cities, where the pollution levels are high. The second factor that could drive private players towards hospital ships is the inability of the government especially in Asia and Africa to meet the challenge posed by unprecedented natural calamities in coastal towns. This could be a lucrative avenue for private navies that are not always involved in hostile anti-piracy operations.
Currently, navies and non-government charities are the main operators of cost intensive relief-care vessels. Both these segments are likely to grow, especially, because more navies like India, China, Japan, and Russia are indulging in ‘out of area operations.’ The rising aspirations of Tier-II navies are likely to impact the demand for hospital ships too because not only are these platforms proving to be an invaluable arm of naval diplomacy but also because China, the trendsetter in the Asia-Pacific region has embarked on an ambitious maritime diplomacy project.
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