Mobile boat clinics are providing vital healthcare to hundreds of thousands of people living on remote river islands along the Brahmaputra in Assam state.
More than 2,000 temporary islands and sandbars, known as “chars”, dot the state, many with limited or no medical facilities.
The “Akha”, or “hope”, boat clinic network takes doctors, medicines, vaccines and basic laboratory services to communities across 13 districts, with maternal and infant healthcare a key focus.
Launched in 2005 by the non-profit Centre for North East Studies and Policy Research, the initiative has expanded to 15 boats with support from authorities and UNICEF.
The network now serves about 20,000 people monthly.
“We are totally dependent on the boat clinic,” Barballa island resident Rekibul Amin told AFP, adding that women had particularly benefited from the service.
