A volunteer medical team of doctors and nurses from Mass. General Hospital left Boston last week to deliver medical relief to victims of the earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean area.

The team of about 41, headed by Dr. Larry Ronan of Savin Hill, flew to Singapore, then on to an unidentified location, believed to be off the coast of Sri Lanka, where they will spend 30 days living and working aboard the hospital ship USNS Mercy. The Mercy, which last went overseas during the 1991 Gulf War, will remain in the region indefinitely to help the millions of survivors who face homelessness, malnutrition, a contaminated water supply and a host of infectious diseases, Navy officials said.

Dr. Ronan, the 51-year-old Dorchester resident and Mass General internist, who also heads the Dr. Thomas B. Durant Fellowship program at the hospital, organized the mission of mercy. Ronan has been hard at work for much of the last month organizing the humanitarian effort, which will cycle three teams of medical practitioners to the region, each serving a 30-day tour of duty. The effort is voluntary, and the local medical team will give their efforts without any compensation.

The effort is organized by Project Hope, an international relief program, and here is its mission statement:

"The name Health Opportunities for People Everywhere (HOPE) is reflected in its mission:

It is Project HOPE's mission to achieve sustainable advances in health care around the world by implementing health education programs, conducting health policy research, and providing humanitarian assistance in areas of need; thereby contributing to human dignity, promoting international understanding, and enhancing social and economic development. The essence of Project HOPE is teaching; the basis is partnership."

In a conversation at Gerard's Adams Corner restaurant before he left for the mission last week, Dr. Ronan told friends that Boston was fortunate to have such great medical resources, including thousands of physicians and nurses, and that it was important that the city make some of those resources available to care for the victims of the December tsunami.

The Boston medical team will live and work 'round the clock on the USNS Mercy. The massive ship, a converted oil tanker, is equipped with a pharmacy, a 50-bed emergency room, a blood bank, 12 operating rooms, and space for up to 1,000 hospital beds. The Mercy and its sister ship, USNS Comfort, are the largest hospital ships in the world.

The Comfort is currently in port in Baltimore, and the Boston team was flown to that city for a two-day orientation program last week, before leaving for Singapore last weekend.

The hospital ships are equipped with the latest medical equipment, including a new CT scan, and digital X-ray and radiology machines. Four distilling plants onboard can turn 300,000 gallons of seawater each day into fresh water.

- Ed Forry