Mercy ship brings hope to suffering

The hospital ship USNS Mercy has helped hundreds since arriving off Bandah Aceh. Inset, one of the tsunami victims on board. Picture / Reuters

After seven operations and a year of agony, Zahrul Ihsan finally found the cure he desperately needed - a beneficiary, ironically, of the killer tsunami that devastated his homeland, Indonesia's Aceh province.

Eating fried chicken in bed aboard the giant American hospital ship USNS Mercy, Ihsan, 4, now appears in little pain from the burns that scarred his back and crippled him.

Two operations by American surgeons have given him hope of leading a normal life.

Doctors from around the world flocked to Aceh to help the thousands injured by the December 26 disaster.

That has allowed people like Ihsan, suffering from conditions unrelated to the tragedy, to benefit from world-class medical and surgical care provided by ships such as the 1000-bed Mercy.

Ihsan's father and an aunt staying on the ship, anchored just off the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, said Ihsan suffered third-degree burns from his lower back to his knees when a stove exploded in his Banda Aceh home nearly a year ago.

The blast ripped most of the skin tissue from his lower back. His knees contracted so that he could not stand.

Despite seven operations at Banda Aceh's main hospital, Ihsan made little progress. He was to have had an eighth on December 27, the day after the tsunami, but the giant waves damaged the hospital and emergency medical care was the priority.

"There were no doctors when the emergency services came. They were all busy with tsunami victims," said his aunt, Sri Nurmadiah, 22.

Ihsan would never have been able to walk without the two operations he had aboard the Mercy, said Steven Ferrara, head of the ship's radiology unit.

"It's pretty complex surgery. There's a lot of tissue with fluid loss and there are other technical aspects to preserve the muscle and everything. [Doctors] had to do multiple skin graft procedures to cover the damage."

Dozens of people needing medical help are taken to the 272m ship each day.

Doctors have performed close to 200 surgeries since the ship arrived in Aceh last month. It is scheduled to leave in two weeks.

Patients are flown on board each day by helicopters on shuttle runs from Banda Aceh's airport.

What matters for the patients is getting the sort of treatment they would never get in Aceh, a poor province where a long-running rebellion has disrupted services.

Civil servant Yulizar Yusuf, 50, developed a colossal tumour on his face 10 years ago. It ate away his nose bones.

Doctors on the ship reconstructed his nasal area and took bones from his hips for a graft. They also performed surgery to remove the tumour on his jaw.

Yusuf's face is no longer swathed with bandages, although he still has some trouble speaking.

His wife, Adlina, said she hoped her husband would make a full recovery.

Asked if she had ever imagined Yusuf would get proper treatment, she exclaimed: "Subhanallah"] Allah is the holiest], a Muslim expression of gratitude and total submission to God.

- REUTERS