Sick bay Sick bay , also spelled sickbay and also known as a medbay , medical bay , medical center , or medical wing , was a room or area on a starship where the sick and injured were healed . It was similar to a medcenter or a hospital . Sick bays could be found on both military and civilian vessels , and in some instances in non - mobile bases , throughout thousands of years of galactic history . They were often furnished with hospital beds and bacta tanks , and they could be staffed by sentients and medical droids alike . The sick bay aboard the medical frigate " Redemption " also included ammonia chamber s , where species that breathed ammonia could recuperate after prolonged exposure to oxygen . Description . Sick bay was the name given to an area on starships where the sick and injured were healed . Also known as sickbay , medbay , a medical bay , a medical center , or a medical wing , it served a similar purpose to medcenters and hospitals . The " Queen of Empire " , " FarStar " , " Reciprocity " , " Tantive IV " , " Chu ' unthor " , " Uwana Buyer " , and the " Alliance " were examples of ships that had sick bays . Furnishings in sick bays included hospital beds and bacta tanks , and staff could consist of both sentients and medical droids . Additionally , the sick bay in the medical frigate " Redemption " included ammonia chamber s , where ammonia - breathing species could recuperate after prolonged exposure to oxygen . Sick bays were distinguished from medical frigates , which were vessels dedicated primarily to the transportation and care of the wounded and convalescent , and which were primarily staffed by medical personnel . Contrarily , sick bays were usually limited to smaller areas aboard non - medical starships , such as a single room or wing . The latter was the case with the Jedi Order ' s Chu ' unthor training ship , which housed a medical wing composed of dozens of healing and hospital rooms . Their purpose was to teach Jedi trainees healing arts which they could then use to aid the physically and mentally impaired . Nevertheless , the medical frigate " Redemption " included a sick bay . Eyrie Base , a Rebel Alliance base on the planet Karatha , housed a sick bay despite being a non - mobile location . History . In 3962 BBY , former Jedi Padawan Zayne Carrick pretended that the entire crew of the Axehead frigate " Reciprocity " had been quarantined to the vessel ' s sick bay as part of a ruse that allowed him to board the Phaedacomm space station in the Phaeda system . Millennia later , Doctor Zahara Cody of the Imperial prison barge " Purge " quarantined several sick crewmembers to the medbay when they became infected with the mysterious disease known as the sickness . Later on in the Galactic Civil War , Rebel Alliance agents Stevan Makintay and Ketrian Altronel planned to raid the sick bay of a transport used by the Galactic Empire in order to find an antidote to the xebonica poison , which had been administered to Altronel , but a rescue by other Alliance agents prevented the need . She was later treated in the sick bay of the Alliance ' s Eyrie Base , which became the site of a skirmish between Makintay and Imperial Major Nial Pedrin . The Gand bounty hunter Zuckuss was taken to the " Redemption " sick bay in the year 3 ABY after his ammonia - breathing lungs received oxygen burns . While he recovered , a ceremony was held in sick bay to promote Rebel agent Toryn Farr to the rank of commander — she insisted on the location so as to allow Zuckuss to attend . While the Gand was in an ammonia chamber , the famous Rebel Luke Skywalker was in the sick bay ' s solarium receiving a new cybernetic hand . During the reign of the New Republic , smuggler Talon Karrde employed a Twi ' lek masseuse aboard his Luxury 5000 space yacht , the " Uwana Buyer " . As she was using the salary to pay her way through medical school , she also worked as a doctor in the ship ' s medical bay . The CR90 corvette " FarStar " Captain Kaiya Adrimetrum was confined to sick bay in 8 ABY after being rendered comatose by a poison native to the planet Sebiris , and the year 25 ABY saw Major Showolter of the New Republic Intelligence Service sent to the Luxury liner " Queen of Empire " sick bay by Han Solo , captain of the " Millennium Falcon " , after being injured in an attack by Yuuzhan Vong warriors . The " Jade Shadow " , personal starship of Mara Jade Skywalker , had a medbay , where Jedi Master Luke Skywalker left his corporeal body in the year 43 ABY while walking beyond shadows . In 137 ABY , during the Second Imperial Civil War , Admiral Gar Stazi of the Galactic Alliance Remnant was betrayed and shot by Shipman Tealart aboard the " Imperious " - class Star Destroyer " Alliance " . Gravely injured , the Admiral was confined to sick bay and treated by the Jedi healer Sayar Dun ' La while Captain Jhoram Bey took command of the Galactic Alliance Core Fleet during a subsequent space battle with the forces of Darth Krayt ' s Galactic Empire . Bey ' s attempts to flee into hyperspace were repeatedly thwarted by the pursuing Imperials , and when Stazi figured out that the enemy was tracing the frequency vibrations of the " Alliance " communications array , he was barely able to whisper as much to Bey from his hospital bed . The revelation allowed Bey to thwart the Imperials and win the day . Behind the scenes . Sick bays have appeared in a wide variety of " Star Wars " multimedia , referred to by varying names including sickbay and medbay . In real life , sick bay is a nautical term dating back to the . As there were relatively few places on shore where ill seamen could be treated , most ships had sick berths located in the vessel ' s stern . The name " sick bay " was derived from the stern ' s rounded contours , which suggested the shape of a bay . Dictionary defines sick bay as " a compartment in a ship used as a dispensary and hospital , " and , more broadly , " a place for the care of the sick or injured . " For example , the , the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the entire world , includes a sick bay in the fore of the vessel ' s berth deck that was historically used to treat sailors injured in battle and by various maladies . Sick bays and medical bays are recurring themes in the and space genres — in addition to " Star Wars " , they have appeared in such franchises as " " , " " , " " , and " " . In his book " Medical Informatics 20 / 20 " , author Douglas E . Goldstein credits the sick bays seen in the " Wars " and " Trek " franchises with helping inspire the future of health care . Similarly , a high - tech disease detection facility unveiled by the in 2011 was called a " Science - Fiction Style ' Sick Bay ' " by and a " sickbay that uses space - age technology " by the " " .