The project of a universal transport and hospital ship has been unveiled

The project of a universal transport and hospital ship has been published. It was developed in the "Nevsky Design Bureau".

An important feature of the vessel is its versatility. It can work in the interests of both military and civilian consumers of medical services. In addition to the warm seas, the vessel with a reinforced hull is able to perform its missions in the Arctic latitudes. By the way, its configuration is very similar to the appearance of the latest generation of icebreakers. And it can also be used to transport troops.

According to the developers, the project of a universal transport and hospital ship contains all the functions necessary for conducting humanitarian operations with the provision of high-quality medical care in any region of our country and the world where there is access to the sea.

As far as we know, the Navy now has three hospital ships out of four built in Poland during the Soviet era. They have long been morally and physically outdated. Meanwhile, the need for such courts has become obvious and will only grow.

The Russian Navy is once again becoming an ocean fleet. This means that in long-distance hikes, he needs high-quality medical support. The Russian group of air, land and naval forces in Syria will be deployed in this country for a long time. In this case, a hospital ship permanently located in the waters of the Mediterranean Sea is simply necessary.

The establishment of a logistics support point for our fleet in Sudan is beginning. And this also requires the presence of a naval hospital there.

We cannot ignore our activation in the Arctic. People working in the harsh northern latitudes, it is desirable to provide qualified medical care without their evacuation, as they say, to the Mainland.

That is, the need for accelerated construction of universal transport and hospital ships is already quite large. And the highest echelons of power understand this. In June last year, the issue of purchasing hospital ships was raised by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. The topic was also discussed at a meeting in the government. The Ministry of Industry and Trade supported the idea and recommended building hospital ships in Russia, rather than ordering them abroad, as was the practice in Soviet times.

The universal hospital ship, designed in St. Petersburg, is offered in several versions - with a ship's hospital for 500 and 1000 people. In the first case, it is possible to place troops and equipment in cargo areas. In the second case, only medical facilities are provided. It should be noted that their equipment will be the most modern.

The floating hospital should have X-ray equipment and computer tomographs, the latest surgical equipment, artificial kidney machines and many other things that only central medical institutions usually have.

The vessel's displacement is about 30 thousand tons. The area of the inpatient hospital is more than 14 thousand square meters. The crew of the ship - 60 people, the staff of the hospital-742 people. The ship can carry up to six helicopters on the upper deck.

Sergey Ptichkin