Hospital Turns into a Mobile Remedy After Assam Floods
When the monsoon finally gives up, doctors at a battered cancer center in NE India have turned the flooded streets into a makeshift treatment hub. It’s a touching, if tragic, snapshot of resilience amid one of the region’s worst floods.
Flood‑tangled 150‑bed facility
The Cachar Cancer Hospital and Research Centre sits in Assam’s Barak valley – a quiet valley now turned waterlogged playground for a 150‑bed hospital that’s been under siege for days. Staff say they’re struggling to keep the lights on and the medicines flowing, so they’ve begged for life‑jackets, an inflatable raft, and just enough essentials to get through the crisis.
Adapting Treatment on the Move
- Out‑of‑hospital chemotherapy – “We’re doing chemo on the road where the water drains,” says Dharshana R, the head of resource mobilisation.
- Chip‑away surgeries – “If someone needs a life‑saving operation, we run it, but we can’t do more without nitrous gas for anesthesia. We’ve dropped from 20 ops a week to just 4,” she notes.
- Supply demands – fresh drinking water, food, diesel for backup generators and cooking fuel are listed as critical needs.
Still, the calm is distant
The Barak River, which rises in a neighboring state’s hills, is still gushing. While waters are slinking back elsewhere along the mighty Brahmaputra, the situation in Cachar and its twin districts of Karimganj and Hailakandi is still grim, as Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma tells Reuters.
Losses and displacement stack up
- More than 150 people died throughout Assam and Bangladesh in the past weeks.
- Millions are displaced – roughly 7.4 million in Assam alone.
- In Chamling’s low‑lying pockets, houses have been swallowed.
- Hospitals once full of 150 patients now house just 85, with the rest pushed to safer spots.
- In the last 24 hours, five new deaths in Assam pushed the toll to 72.
- Bangladesh reports at least 84 deaths and over 4.5 million stranded.
- Nearly 5,900 victims fell ill with water‑borne diseases such as diarrhea once the waters recede.
Enduring hope amid watery despair
Despite the floods, the staff of Cachar Cancer Hospital are keeping the spirit alive, turning disaster into a drive for innovative care on the road. Their determination proves that even when the world is drenched, the human heart can still find ways to heal.
