Monday 19 October 2015

Role of boat clinics in the land of river islands



The river island of Assam, which remains disconnected from the mainland during the most critical days of life, i.e., during the flood, has no other alternative to rely on for health emergencies other than the boat clinics and it is these boat clinics that have always been playing a crucial role towards the healthcare of this part of the state. The rural assam, especially, the rural and remote river islands of the state have always been subjected to suffer from the dearth of proper healthcare facilities which has resulted into massive damage done to life in that remote part of the state. People are complled to suffer deteriorasting health conditpons and ultimately die lackig proper medication and treatment. On such grounds, the only ray of hope the poor people of the river island are availing at this present age is the boat clinic, which, as suggested by the name, is a moving clinic on boat and is the only medium to reach the sufferers living in the remote areas.

As is officially known, there are more than 2000 river islands in Brahmaputra and not all of those are situated in a near distance to the hospitals. Even for many of those villagers, reaching the nearest hospital would take many hours. On such grounds, in emergency situations like in case of maternal pain, diseases of infancy etc, one cannot hope to rush to the hospitals but to take shelter in the boat clinics which are the only sources of medication for one.

The first boat clinic to operate in the remote river islands and to opt for healthcare of its people was named “Akha”, or Hope that started operating in 2005 from Dibrugarh district. The pioneering mind behind this concept of boat clinics was an enterprising journalist, named Sanjoy Hazarika. According to Hazarika “the service should go to people rather than people coming to the service”.


Now there are boat clinics in 13 districts in Assam and a team of 250 people is divided into 15 units. Each of these units includes doctors, nurses and community workers.

Keywords: Assamese news paper Khabar, Assamese Daily Newspaper, Assamese Newspaper Online, Online Assamese Paper, Dainik Janambhumi Newspaper, Assamese Newspaper

For more news, visit:  www.thejanambhumi.com


Wednesday 7 October 2015

High time to preserve Meghalaya’s orchid culture


There are 1,331 orchid species in India and amazingly, one third of these species are found in Meghalaya, the beautiful north-eastern state. But sadly, this exotic natural treasure of the state have not been attempted to be preserved which has resulted into the orchid culture on verge of being decayed. In the absence of a proper attention and the lack of necessary steps has opened the door to the orchids being lost in the passage of time. As an acute step, the state could have declared at least 20 forests as “biotype sanctuaries” which would help it in protecting and conserving the exotic flowering plant species. The species of the rare orchids are suffering from issues like habitat loss and human exploitation.

The orchid species are mostly found in Nokrek Biosphere Reserve in the Garo Hills, four Wildlife sanctuaries, reserved forests and over 125 sacred groves all over the state. There are at least 11 such orchid-rich forests in East Khasi Hills district alone including Upper Shillong, Mawphlang and Sohra. In addition to these, Jowai, Jarain, Tuber, Mukhaialong, Narpuh, and Raliang in East and West Jaintia Hills hills districts and Tura peak, Nokrek, Baghmara and Rongrenggre in the Garo Hills are some other places that possess wild Orchids.


This calls for an attention of the state gorvernemnt of Meghalaya as one of the rare natural wealths, the enchanting Orchids will go missing from the land if no acute step is adopted on time.

Keywords: Assamese news paper Khabar, Assamese Daily Newspaper, Assamese Newspaper Online, Online Assamese Paper, Dainik Janambhumi Newspaper, Assamese Newspaper

For more news, visit: www.thejanambhumi.com