P&G SEHAT Boat Clinic expands healthcare access in Assam's char islands

Procter & Gamble Health Limited expanded its SEHAT Boat Clinic, a fully equipped floating healthcare unit, to deliver primary and maternal care to remote river-island communities along the Brahmaputra in Assam. The CSR initiative demonstrates how corporate ESG strategies can complement government healthcare in geographically isolated regions of India.

Under its flagship CSR platform SEHAT, Procter & Gamble Health Limited expanded the SEHAT Boat Clinic to strengthen mobile healthcare access for residents of remote river islands along the Brahmaputra in Assam. The boat operates as a fully equipped floating healthcare unit, including a six-bed ward, diagnostic laboratory, pharmacy, labour room and a mini operation theatre. Medical teams travel directly to villages in Assam's riverine "char" regions, which often remain disconnected from road networks due to frequent flooding and shifting river channels, providing consultations, diagnostics, immunisation and antenatal care.

The initiative directly affects vulnerable populations in Assam's char-island communities, including pregnant women, children and elderly residents who previously travelled long distances by boat to reach hospitals or relied on irregular health camps. P&G Health runs the program through partnerships with non-profit organisations and healthcare networks that manage operational logistics and field implementation, ensuring regular outreach camps, trained medical staff and consistent access to medicines and diagnostic tools. The model addresses healthcare resources remaining heavily concentrated in urban areas despite an improving national doctor-to-population ratio.

The program emphasises preventive health awareness and long-term community engagement, with medical teams conducting sessions on nutrition, maternal health, hygiene and chronic-disease management to encourage early intervention. Companies pursuing similar mobile healthcare models should sustain partnerships with credible non-profits to maintain regular outreach and reliable medicine supply. For policymakers, the initiative highlights the potential of public-private partnerships to deliver scalable healthcare in hard-to-reach regions, reinforcing the value of integrating public-health equity into corporate sustainability frameworks.

Key figure — Clinic capacity: six-bed ward with diagnostic laboratory, pharmacy, labour room and mini operation theatre