May 13, 2007-- The world's largest non-governmental hospital ship, the Africa Mercy, began her inaugural sail this past weekend and is expected to make her way to war-torn Liberia by the end of the month. The newest Mercy Ship, an elegantly converted rail ferry, departed the port of Blyth UK and set sail for Monrovia, May 8. Over 400 volunteer crew will take part in the hospital ship's first field service in Africa providing free medical care, capacity building, relief aid and community development programs to the people of Liberia. The projected surgical capacity onboard the Africa Mercy is approximately 7,000 operations per year including, cataract removal/lens implant, tumor removal, cleft lip and palate reconstruction, orthopaedics and obstetric fistula repair. (2702 reads)