‘Stronger Than Ever’ Chungnam Hospital Ship Sets Sail from Boryeong

The Chungnam hospital ship held its launching ceremony and will begin full-scale mission operations. This hospital ship is the largest among domestic hospital ships, equipped with state-of-the-art medical equipment and adopting an eco-friendly hybrid propulsion system, further enhancing its function as a hospital ship.

On the 29th, Chungnam Province held the launching ceremony for the Chungnam hospital ship. The Chungnam hospital ship was built to replace the aging 'Chungnam 501 (service life 22 years)'.

A total budget of 12.3 billion KRW was invested in the construction of this hospital ship. The ship's size is 320 tons, twice as large as the existing hospital ship (160 tons). This is the largest among the five hospital ships owned by four cities and provinces nationwide.

The specifications are a length of 49.9m, width of 9m, depth of 3.6m, with a maximum capacity of 50 people on board and a maximum cruising range of 1,037 km.

In particular, the Chungnam hospital ship applies an eco-friendly hybrid system. Like a hybrid car, it allows the ship to operate by alternating between a diesel engine and an energy storage device (battery).

For example, the diesel engine is used during high-speed navigation, and the electric motor is used during low-speed or short-distance navigation.

The propulsion system adopts a water jet method considering marine characteristics such as shallow waters in island areas. The maximum speed of the Chungnam hospital ship is 20 knots (40 km/h), enabling emergency transport when urgent patients occur in island areas.

Inside the ship, in addition to existing facilities such as internal medicine, dental, and Korean medicine clinics, radiology room, clinical and pathology labs, and pharmacy, a physical therapy room has been newly added. The physical therapy room is expected to help treat chronic musculoskeletal diseases of island village residents.

Also, the latest medical equipment such as bone density devices and biochemical analyzers have been added, and the operational and medical staff increased from 18 to 22 by adding 4 more personnel, enhancing medical services for island residents.

Going forward, the Chungnam hospital ship will visit 32 islands in 6 cities and counties within the province for more than 180 days annually, conducting activities such as ▲ medical treatment and health improvement for island residents ▲ health promotion education and publicity ▲ oral care through treatment and scaling of periodontal disease ▲ traditional Korean medicine health management including acupuncture pain clinics ▲ radiographic imaging and clinical pathology tests ▲ physical therapy ▲ disease prevention and management through ultrasound and bone density tests.

Kim Tae-heum, Governor of Chungnam Province, said, “We expect the Chungnam hospital ship to play the role of a ‘health guardian’ responsible for the health and medical welfare of island residents along the West Coast, following the ‘Chungnam 501.’”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.