USNS Mercy arrives in Trincomalee

Colombo (News1st) - The U.S. Navy hospital ship USNS Mercy arrived in Trincomalee yesterday to conduct the 2018 Pacific Partnership mission. According to the US Embassy in Sri Lanka Pacific Partnership 2018 will continue through May 8 and will feature U.S. and other military doctors and medical personnel working side-by-side with Sri Lankan medical professionals to provide treatment to local communities and exchange best practices. The USNS Mercy contains 12 fully-equipped operating rooms, a 1,000 bed hospital facility, digital radiological services, a medical laboratory, a pharmacy, an optometry lab, a CAT-scan and two oxygen producing plants. The ship is equipped with a helicopter deck capable of landing large military helicopters. It made previous stops in the 2018 mission in Bengkulu, Indonesia and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. After departing Sri Lanka, the USNS Mercy will make stops in Vietnam and Japan to strengthen alliances, partnerships, and multilateral cooperation throughout the Indo-Pacific region. The Pacific Partnership is the largest annual multilateral disaster response preparedness mission conducted in the Indo-Pacific.