Emirates Airline Foundation signs contract with NGO to manage new floating hospital in Bangladesh

The steel-hulled catamaran was commissioned by the foundation, the onboard charity initiative that funds projects around the world in aid of underprivileged children. Emirates passengers support the foundation by donating spare cash or unwanted foreign currency using envelopes supplied on board.

Due for completion in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, by mid-2007, the Emirates Friendship Hospital ship will be used as a floating hospital in northern Bangladesh for communities isolated by the annual monsoon flooding of the Brahmaputra River.

The low-draught vessel is specially designed to navigate the shallow waters of this specific area of over 200 kilometres, one of the most medically neglected and inaccessible areas of Bangladesh.

The riverine population is estimated to be up to two million people, forty per cent of whom are below 15 years of age.

Tim Clark, President of Emirates Airline and Chairman of the Emirates Airline Foundation, said:

"The communities in northern Bangladesh are in dire need of basic medical facilities to deal with the unforgiving conditions in which they live. The Emirates Airline Foundation is pleased to be able to support the work of Friendship in serving the medical needs of the people in the affected areas."

He added: "We are thankful to our passengers who have generously funded the foundation over the past two years and without whom we could not have facilitated this initiative."

The Emirates Friendship hospital will be managed by Friendship which started operations in December 2001 around the riverine areas of Dhaka.

The foundation has previously helped in the work of the Lifebuoy Friendship Hospital, a former river barge also managed by Friendship, which currently serves the medical needs of the isolated communities in northern Bangladesh.

The donation has funded the air transportation of volunteer doctors and equipment from Europe.

Runa Khan, Executive Director of Friendship, said: "Their suffering is unbearable for them and unacceptable for us. Our mission is to give our best to ease their situation. The work of Friendship is to bring to their doors, thanks to our hospital ships, the most efficient medical facilities. We are providing them with general medical care, mother and child care and surgical interventions, in addition to teaching them the basics of hygiene, nutrition and disease prevention.

"Our programme has directly reached over 200,000 people; our target is to multiply these figures," she added.

The Emirates Friendship Hospital will be fitted with wards, an operating theatre, a delivery room, a dental unit, an eye-care unit, a laboratory, a pharmacy and an x-ray room.

The foundation will also fund the salaries of a full-time team of doctors, nurses and support staff, along with the facility's day-to-day running costs, which will cost some US$150,000 a year when it goes into service in 2007.