Members of the public have been urged to take advantage of services offered on the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy hospital ship Ark Peace, which berthed at the Port of Suva yesterday.

The ship will begin receiving patients today, provide medical check-ups, do consultations and, if need be, perform operations.

All this will be free of charge. The hospital ship will provide valuable medical services for thousands of local residents.

Besides, medical teams will go to villages and communities to provide medical services. The medical equipment engineers will go to local hospitals and help to repair or assist in the maintenance of medical equipment. The ship is a large maritime medical platform designed and built in China.

It is fully-equipped with medical facilities including eight operating theatres, 300 sickbeds, seven medical staff offices, eight nurse stations and 18 consulting rooms, including severe burn wards, ICU, DR room, CT room, dental clinic, special examination room, blood preparation room as well as laboratory and medical information centre.

With the help of a telemedicine system, a medical LAN system and video monitoring system, medical staff are able to perform sophisticated surgical operations at sea.

A local area network (LAN) is a group of computers and associated devices that share a common communications line or wireless link to a server.

Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF) Chief Staff Officer Co-ordination Captain Eroni Duaibe said some patients will be referred from medical centres and the Ministry of Health.

However, he said, members of the public can come directly to the Port of Suva where they will be attended to by medical practitioners before they are referred to the ship depending on the severity of their illnesses.

Captain Duaibe said the RFMF was proud and pleased to welcome the vessel to our shores.

“As part of the long-standing friendship between Fiji and China, this is an extension of the friendship that we already have,” he said.

The goodwill mission to Fiji is a chance to offer assistance and collaboration between the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy hospital ship, the RFMF, Ministry of Health and other stakeholders.   

Under the command of mission commanders Rear Admiral Guan Bailin and Rear Admiral Qin Wei, Ark Peace set sail from Zhoushan, China on June 28 to carry out “Mission Harmony-2018”.

The Ark Peace will be here for eight days.

Edited by Epineri Vula