Navy Plans to Re-Order Hospital Ships to PAL Indonesia

Seorang pengunjung mengambil gambar KRI Semarang 594 seusai serah terima dan peresmian KRI tersebut di Dermaga Divisi Kapal Niaga, PT PAL Indonesia, Kawasan Ujung Tanjung Perak, Surabaya, Jawa Timur, Senin (21/1/2019). Kapal perang rumah sakit buatan PT PAL itu telah dilengkapi sejumlah fasilitas kesehatan seperti ruang operasi, ruang rawat dan fasilitas kesehatan lainnya yang diharapkan dapat memperkuat armada militer untuk mendukung tugas nonmiliter. (Antara Jatim/Zabur Karuru)

Surabaya (Antaranews) - The Navy plans to re-order hospital ships to PT PAL Indonesia, after the completion of orders for a similar ship, KRI Semarang 594, with the aim of strengthening the military fleet to support non-military duties.

"With a very wide geographic construction, we should have at least three Hospital Vessels, so that with the completion of the KRI Semarang 594, we will return to work with PAL Indonesia to rebuild the hospital ship," Admiral Navy Chief of Staff Siwi Sukma Adji stated on Monday.

Adji, after the handover ceremony of KRI Semarang 594 at the Commercial Ship Division Pier, PT PAL Indonesia, Ujung Tanjung Perak Region, Surabaya, noted that hospital ships were needed considering several disasters that occurred in the country, such as in Lombok and Palu.

Currently, the non-military fleet, especially the hospital ships owned by the Indonesian Navy, comprises only two ships, namely KRI Dr. Soeharso and KRI Semarang.

"Today, with the existence of the KRI Semarang, which was originally Landing Platform Dock (LPD), we have increased its level to become a hospital ship, with the addition of several medical containers," Adji remarked.

We hope that the existence of the KRI Semarang hospital ship could help in enforcing sovereignty, carry out projection activities for diplomacy strength, and help the existence of KRI Dr. Soeharso as a hospital fleet.

He remarked that the third development vessel would begin this year, with a target of completion in 2021, so that when the KRI Semarang is completed, the function will be returned to the "Landing Platform Dock" (LPD).

PT PAL Indonesia Ship Development Director Turitan Indaryo explained that the third hospital ship orders are targeted to start in the second quarter of 2019.

"The work pattern will not be much different from the previous ship, with six starting points and built according to existing needs," Indaryo noted.

He added that with the available resources, PT PAL was always ready to work on every order and incessantly carry out a transformation for the combatant ship market.

Regarding the investment value, he did not want to mention it for certain, but he admitted that the value was not much different from the KRI Semarang investment contract, which was around Rp736 billion. (*)