Trans RINA, Vol 157, Part C1, Intl J Marine Design, Jan - Dec 2015
of familiarity with their presence, this would help to put them at ease.
The GA of the medical support vessel was developed to be operated as an Ebola treatment unit. Where the requirements for isolation and mitigation for infection control were implemented. Ebola treatment units must have strict access control, triage and security; staff and logistics areas must be separate from patient areas with infection control procedures of the highest standard. The design and flow of staff and patients have been pre- designed to mitigate contamination. The use of a pontoon platform allows the medical support vessel to be moored according to security risk. Where there is a low risk of security the vessel can be moored at a port or similar infrastructure, as shown in. Where there is a high security risk the platform can be moored in shallow water with logistics of patients achieved using high speed craft and hovercraft. In terms of internal security the use of automatic doors and wristband scanning sensors, secures patients within their
designated areas and give staff
secure access to storage and key facilities. Having pontoon access to the medical support vessel ensures a strict control of access. These measures are critical given that fear, mistrust and misinformation within affected communities lead some to believe that medical staff brought the virus to the country. This has resulted in people refusing to cooperate with medical personnel, helping patients escape isolation wards and exhibiting hostile behaviour.
Large volumes of water and waste must be managed on the medical support vessel with a strict implementation of infection control principles. This is achieved using water treated to 0.5% and 0.05% Chlorine. Potable water must
The uncertainties about the location, magnitude and nature of the next disaster are constant challenges for humanitarian response and underline the importance of preparedness and flexibility in terms of supply chain set- ups and management. In order to maximise effectiveness field hospitals and foreign medical teams must
be be available based on an estimated daily
consumption of at least 20,000L, which is produced by the water makers, which must also produce sufficient water to also meet the needs of disaster relief supply. These units have high energy consumption in order to reduce the energy consumption of the water makers from the diesel generators, the authors
will examine the
potential of solar panels and wind turbines to power the water makers.[5]
Having the medical support vessel established as an existing health facility would help to restore the public faith in the local health system. The adaptability of the medical support vessel interior to respond to the change in triage needs of an Ebola treatment unit is critical. It is facilitated by the extensive laboratory testing capability of
the vessel. When it comes to level of services
delivered to host countries during disaster responses, two views are proposed. The first is that FMTs should provide services to the level to which the host country can sustain. The second is that services should be provided to the level needed and to which FMTs can supply. In the proposal of the fleet of medical support vessels, the vessel could have two modes of operation. Local hospital provision where the 1st floor of the vessel
integrated into the local health system. The decision to deploy and the scale of deployment rely heavily on context and nature of the event. Hence, a rapid assessment of needs/gaps, capacities and vulnerabilities is critical for an appropriate tailored response including team profiles and equipment. Individual agencies cannot effectively carry out this task alone, nor would multiple providers working without
[5] This floating field hospital regional network would be fully integrated into local healthcare
inter-agency collaboration. system. The
network would be operated as a joint venture between local Government, NGOs and UN agencies, with a UN disaster management
established between all stakeholders. For this reason each medical support vessel has an office with collective disaster management capability within the fleet, through the use of augmented reality technology and clearly defined SOPs which involve video conferencing with local Governments NGOs and other key stakeholders.
expensive components of a disaster response, accounting for 80% of the total expenditure. Where efficient delivery, transportation and
distribution deployment is critical of
logistics are vital parts of relief operations. Maintaining the fleet of medical support vessels in state of readiness for
to have an effective and
efficient response time. The ideal scenario being that the vessel is made ready for delivery and the FMT are in place within one day and the vessel can then be towed to theatre of operation within 2 days. Fleet maintenance and supply could be achieved in a cost effective manner through a series of port based distribution centres based
© 2015: The Royal Institution of Naval Architects C-173
Several studies have identified logistics as one of the most
command centre and SOP
is operated by local health care authorities as a hospital with support and training from NGOs, the 2nd floor is mothballed for disaster relief. the 3rd floor is used for regional training and development programmes with the accommodation for visiting FMT and other development project. Training local staff would only be to the level of services that
they can sustain independently. In this
scenario there would be a total of 30 vessels. There would be regular use of the 2nd floor by NGO foreign medical teams for specialist surgery, this would be predicated upon the availability of a local hospital bed ashore in case an emergency was announced. When disaster is announced patients could be transferred from the 1st floor
to 2nd floor of another vessel, foreign
medical team flown in and 15 of the 30 medical vessels could be towed to the disaster area, the first two of which would arrive within 3 days. The
rationale for the
development of a fleet of 30 medical support vessel would be the significantly reduced construction and operational costs, compared to land based structures.
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