Medical Conditions for Volunteers

Mercy Ships crew live and work in a very unique operational environment aboard a ship. Although we operate a hospital ship, the medical services available to crew has certain limitations due to lack of appropriate medical resources or supplies, lack of diagnostic or therapeutic equipment, or unavailable medications or treatments.

In order to help protect the health and safety of our crew, certain medical conditions may disqualify an individual for service aboard a Mercy Ship. The demands of the environment as well as maritime medical regulations require all our volunteers to be in good physical and mental condition/fit for duty. As such, all applicants are required to complete a medical history and obtain a physical exam. In addition, all crew are required to obtain certain immunizations to comply with immigration and occupational health requirements prior to serving.

As a temporary measure, Mercy Ships has instituted an upper age limit for volunteers. While chronological age alone is not a determinant of overall health, during the current COVID pandemic, age has been identified as an independent risk factor of severe disease. In view of this, applicants over the age of 70 years old may not join for more than one year at a time, but can serve in a short term capacity in the absence of any health issues.

The final determination of an applicant’s medical fitness to serve is done on a case-by-case basis and may require the applicant to provide additional medical information. If you have any further questions regarding our medical guidelines, please contact our Medical Review Facilitator at [email protected].