MediBoat – A New Way to Deliver Medical Assistance

The idea for MediBoat grew out of a desire to bring volunteer medical professionals to the people living in remote island and coastal communities who rarely receive adequate health care due to the unique logistical difficulties of their home countries.

The premise is to team medical professionals with boaties.

The idea is still evolving with our first trip penciled in for mid-2010.

The inaugral trip will be done on Lorna Jan – a 56′ passage maker based in Brisbane, Australia who will take a group of 6 doctors and dentists from La Cima World Missions.

Destination Solomon Islands

MediBoat and La Cima are currently in negotiations with the government of the Solomon Islands as well as local institutions to provide mobile medical teams to areas in the Western Provinces and New Georgia.

At this (very early) stage, it looks like the first boat will be meeting the medical team in Munda before progressing onto the villages and towns where care is needed most. There is, however, a possibility that the boat will meet teams in the capital, Honiara, before motoring the entire distance. (This would have the added advantage of allowing the volunteers from the USA an extra 24 hours of rest time after their likely three day trek to get to Honiara!).

We will update this page with new information regarding the specific locales being discussed as our negotiations with the Solomons government progress.

What’s a MediBoat Look Like?

We are currently working on fitting out a purpose designed boat for taking groups of medical prefessionals on expeditions to the Solomon Islands. Here’s what we have come up with.

Lorna Jan is a 56′ passage maker that will be able to comfortably accommodate up to 9 crew and is currently undergoing its final fit out.

It will have a single four-sleeper cabin, a triple cabin and a double cabin.

With an 8 cylinder gardner engine and 6000 litre fuel capacity, she has an approximate range of around 3000 nautical miles meaning it should be able to complete a single round trip to the Solomon Islands from its home base in Brisbane without refueling. We are currently assessing the viability of adding 2000 litres of fuel capacity to the boat by way of an external fuel bladder which would greatly increase range.

At the time of writing, Lorna Jan is still a work in progress. While most of the exterior of the boat has been completed, the interior fitout is still only at midway. The electronics have all been laid, the engine room is almost done and the boat is in the water, but the final cabin fitout is still at least 12 months from completion.