A two member team comprising of Ms D. Daniel from the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, US and Mr Santosh, UNICEF Consultant, visited the Barpeta Unit II Boat Clinic in lower Assam on July 14, 2011. The team joined the health team on the Boat Clinic during their trip to conduct a health camp at Rowmari char, located behind the picturesque Baghbar hills. The SDM & HO of Mandia BPHC, Block Extension Educator (BEE) and Block Programme Manager (BPM ) accompanied the team. The hour long boat journey from Manikpur ghat to the char started at 11am
The health team informed the local ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) ahead of the teams visit so that necessary arrangements for the camp were made. The Community workers of the health team were sent earlier to the char to inform villagers about the camp, held on the banks of the Brahmaputra . There were 117 general check ups, 6 ante natal check ups conducted and 16 children immunized. As part of family planning measures, oral contraceptive pills and condoms were distributed among eligible couples. An awareness session on the importance of breast feeding was also conducted by the District Programme Officer, Partha Protim BordoloiThe visitors were impressed by the way the camp was organized and the outreach of health services to these isolated people obvious from the comment left behind by Daniel in the Visitors book “The experience of seeing the Boat clinic camp is life changing. The staff at the clinic is doing wonderful work. They care for the very young to the very old. So many different areas are covered- general check ups, laboratory tests, distribution of medicine, family planning and immunization. The team is providing care to the people who would not have access to these services otherwise. Wonderful work!” she wrote.
