In Assam, an innovative concept of floating hospitals named ‘ASHA’ across the river Brahmaputra has brought a considerable change in the living standards to lakhs of people living in isolated habitations, separated from the mainland.Starting with only one such boat clinic in Dibrugarh in 2005, the Centre for North East Studies and Policy Research (C-NES) has now extended its operational areas into 13 districts of the state with 15 such floating clinics.The concept of providing health care facilities at the door steps of the populace in the geographically isolated areas was initially assisted by the district administration and Oil India Limited and later supported by NRHM, Assam and UNICEF.Each of such boat clinics comprises a 15 member team including two doctors and paramedical staff besides crew members.Boat clinics of every district visit their operational areas 5-6 times a month and organize health camps and campaigns.Besides addressing the health sector these clinics also deal with other social issues like education, and recently, the University of Madras has also joined hands in this venture.Now the efforts are on to incorporate a floating hospital to the squad for lower districts of Assam and Meghalaya that is to be designed as a referral hospital.Started with only a few hundred people in Dibrugarh, this PPP model has now reached 5 lakh needy people in just six years and is expecting a greater reach of 10 lakh vulnerable population by the end of 2012.