Apr. 17 – “Every month, there will be a training and study meeting at the Italian Ministry of Health for Italian and foreign doctors residing in Italy to create a friendly atmosphere that will hopefully boost their cooperative spirit as if they were already on the ship,” says Professor Luigi Gentili to 9Colonne, referring to the hospital ship initiative he created and promoted. The ship will navigate Lake Victoria, at the border between Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The monthly meeting idea was launched this morning during a conference at the Ministry of Health on the Floating Mobile Hospital. A video retraced the crucial steps of the initiative, in a “journey” that will bring alive the Levina Italia – the ship thus named in memory of Sister Levina, director of the cultural center of Lake Victoria and one of the first to believe in the project, who died a few years ago. “The idea of the project came during a trip to Benin, on the Gulf of Guinea, where I visited a stilt-house village that had no hospital – said the professor – Then the idea came again to me on Lake Victoria, where there are miles and miles of coastline without hospitals.” The vessel will be 30 meters long and 15 wide, it will have three floors: the hulls, the middle floor serving as a hospital and the top floor will have dedicated training facilities. The renewable energy powered ship won’t have beds as patients will be operated on board and then housed on the ground “in specific structures to be built – said Gentilini – to encourage local industries.” The project, ready in all its details, will cost about €3.5 million. With €1.5 million already secured, the professor has to raise €2 million through private donations. Meanwhile, interest in the initiative has grown over time, so that the states of Rwanda and Burundi have expressed their intention to support the project in their duties as members of the East African Community (EAC).
