DIBRUGARH, Assam, India - Healthcare has long been a problem in much of Assam, a remote state in northeastern India, especially for people living on the many 'chars', or small islands, along the river Brahmaputra that flows through the hilly region.
Not only are there more than 2,000 river islands, they are also many hours from the nearest hospital – and even the nearest road – making it hard for pregnant women to get basic antenatal check-ups, or for mothers to get vaccinations like polio drops for their babies.
It was an enterprising journalist, Sanjoy Hazarika, who had the idea of "boat clinics" after hearing about a woman who had died in childbirth because she couldn’t reach hospital in time. Hazarika decided "the service should go to people rather than people coming to the service".
The first boat clinic named "Akha", or Hope, set sail in 2005 from Dibrugarh district. Doctors say the boats have played a major role in saving the lives of mothers and newborns.
