For people living on the Brahmaputra's river islands, a hospital moored at Kamarjani char in Gaibandha has become the place to go for treatment. Hundreds of patients cross remote chars every day to reach the vessel, the Lifebuoy Friendship Hospital.

Ansar Ali, 72, travelled about 80 km from Sreebardi in Sherpur; a cataract had left his left eye nearly blind for a year. His operation here cost Tk 20. Mizanur Rahman, 55, from Sariakandi in Bogura also had eye surgery, and tests in the hospital's laboratory found a complex inherited blood disorder in eight-year-old Alif from Bakshiganj in Jamalpur.

River erosion, floods and long boat journeys make it hard for char people to see a doctor in time. The service began in 2002, when a barge brought from France was converted into a floating hospital. It is run jointly by Unilever's Lifebuoy brand and the development organisation Friendship.

Besides general care, the hospital offers maternal and child health services, eye, dental and skin treatment, surgery and pathology tests, and runs two boat ambulances and a trawler to bring patients from distant chars.

According to Samakal, the hospital has provided more than 1.35 million services to over 816,000 patients since it opened, carried out more than 19,000 operations in 489 surgical camps, and served 48,784 patients in 2025 alone.

Visiting recently, Unilever Bangladesh chief executive Ruhul Quddus Khan said that for char people, treatment means getting back to work and keeping a household going.

Source: Samakal