IndiaPost.com - Floating hospital, a ray of hope on Brahmaputra

DIBRUGARH (ASSAM): A roaring, swollen Brahmaputra. A rage so mighty, that the very rocks in the river are rendered as weak as a blade of grass. Yet hope floats serene for the people living on the islands in the Brahmaputra.

This ray of hope is a floating hospital called Aasha, built on a large ship, that provides relief against diseases that arrive with the floodwaters of this mighty and some say cursed river. Developed about four years ago as a novel brainchild of Sanjay Hazarika, the managing trustee of Center for North-East Studies (C-NES), Aasha has now become an indispensable part of life for the 2.5 million people living on about 25,000 islands in the river.

These islands are totally cut-off from the outside world with no electricity, health care or communication facilities. Even fever proves fatal because of lack of treatment and many women die unnecessarily during pregnancy or childbirth due to infection and anemia. Aasha is now the new ray of hope for these isolated people.

The World Bank has not only recognized the project, but under the aegis of India Development Marketplace 2007, has also provided financial aid. In fact, this experiment has been so successful that the Central Government as well as the World Bank and UNICEF are extending full support to C-NES as it prepares more such floating hospitals in its mission to keep everyone in the region healthy.

It was no easy job to convert a ship strong enough to withstand the dangerus waves of the Brahmaputra into a floating hospital that could accommodate a team of one and a half dozen doctors and assistants for days on end, along with all the necessary equipment.

The C-NES team inspected many ships in the process and met with a number of artisans in all districts of Assam before constructing Aasha. It also took the help of experts from India and engineers from MIT in the US in building the ship.

After six months of grueling work under the supervision of Kamal Prasad Gurung, a local entrepreneur, the 65 meter long floating hospital was finally ready.

Aasha was launched on 25 May, 2005, and in its first foray, treated 250 residents of Bogibeel village on one of the riverine islands. Usually, during a three-day tour, the hospital team checks up some one-and-a-half thousand people and dispenses medicines.

The greater challenge is spreading awareness of health and hygiene among the illiterate tribes. But the results have been encouraging. Not only has the ship brought a ray of hope into the lives of those suffering from fever, infection and anemia, it has also won the trust of the island people. A visit to these islands makes this amply clear, more so than any government statistic.

Aasha has also paved the way ahead. Dibrugarh, Dhemaji and Tinsukhia -the worst affected districts in the region -now have three floating hospitals to cater to the needs of their people. In the next couple of months, this number will go up to five.

The Government of India's National Rural Health Mission has also begun supplying medicines to C-NES. The conclusion of a team of researchers from America's Tufts University is significant.

They find that health conditions have improved by four to eight times in the regions where Aasha or other such hospitals have reached. Obviously, a good beginning begets better results, as everyone will agree.