Excerpt and Photo from thebetterindia.com

Primary healthcare was a distant dream for the remote riverine community until 2009 when floating health clinics were introduced. Prior to this, hundreds of thousands of rural residents remained isolated in want of healthcare services.

Interestingly, these boat clinics harness solar energy to efficiently run the programme.

A journalist’s impact-driven project

The brains behind this project was Sanjoy Hazarika, a journalist and filmmaker who started the non-profit Centre for North East Studies and Policy Research (C-NES), driven by the tragedy he had witnessed on a ferry.

In collaboration with the National Rural Health Mission, the non-profit launched the boat clinics in 2005 to bridge the healthcare divide. Since then, monthly health camps have been organised across 14 districts including Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Jorhat/Majuli, Sonitpur, and Nalbari.

For this purpose, 15 such floating health clinics are operating along the river to cater to the isolated communities.