Boat ambulance Swapnojatra: Ramgati’s lifeline that never came to the rescue
Four years on, the boat ambulance meant to bring emergency care to Lakshmipur’s isolated chars is found anchored beside the canal, its entire body wrapped in plastic. It looks less like an emergency vehicle than an abandoned vessel left to deteriorate
On the bank of the Centre Canal near Alexander Bazar in Lakshmipur's Ramgati upazila, a boat lies covered in sheets of plastic. Its hull still resembles an ambulance from a distance, but the silence around it tells a different story.
There are no patients waiting to board, no driver at the wheel and no engine to carry it towards the remote chars of the Meghna.
The vessel is "Swapnojatra", Ramgati's only boat ambulance. It was brought to the upazila in 2022 with the promise of carrying critically ill patients from isolated char communities to nearby upazila or district hospitals quickly and safely.
Nearly four years after its inauguration, locals say it has not carried a single patient.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
During our visit to the site, the ambulance was found anchored beside the canal, its entire body wrapped in plastic. There was no sign of recent use.
To residents living around the canal, it looked less like an emergency vehicle and more like an abandoned vessel left to deteriorate.
Three fishermen, Hannan, Barek and Yusuf, were mending their nets beside the canal. They said they had watched the boat remain in the same place for about three years and had never seen it transport a patient.
"It has been lying here for a long time," Yusuf said. "We have never seen it moving. We only see it covered with plastic."
Barek said the loss was felt most by people living far from the mainland. "If it were running, it would have helped the people of the chars a lot. But we have never seen it operate."
Their comments capture the central contradiction of "Swapnojatra". From the outside, the vessel still appears largely functional. Inside, however, it has no engine, and several essential components are reportedly missing.
A project intended to shorten the distance between isolated communities and emergency healthcare never entered regular service.
The ambulance was introduced in October 2022 for residents of Char Abdullah and other remote islands and chars in Ramgati. Estimates of its purchase cost vary sharply.
An upazila administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, "Around Tk3 lakh had been spent on the vessel."
However, locals interviewed for this story said its cost was approximately Tk22 lakh.
Despite the significant discrepancy between the two figures, one fact is not disputed: the ambulance stopped functioning almost immediately.
Asgar Mia, a local shopkeeper, said, "It did not operate for even a day after its inauguration."
According to the upazila administration, the boat ambulance was purchased under an initiative of the district administration. But no driver was recruited when it was inaugurated.
There was also no clear arrangement for its regular operation, staffing, maintenance or assignment of responsibility. As the boat remained unused, parts were stolen and the vessel gradually deteriorated.
During the monsoon, links between villages become almost completely cut off. In a medical emergency, hiring a trawler to reach Ramgati can cost between Tk3,000 and Tk6,000, an amount beyond the immediate reach of many low-income fishing and farming families.
Kamal Uddin Monju, chairman of Char Abdullah Union Parishad, said, "The ambulance could not be made operational from the outset because of several constraints, including the absence of a driver. As a result, people in the char areas continued to be deprived of their basic right to medical services."
That deprivation becomes most visible during medical emergencies.
On 9 June this year, a family in Char Abdullah faced such a situation. A child, Rakib, had been suffering from severe abdominal pain since morning. Medicines obtained from nearby primary healthcare centres did not improve his condition.
Neighbours advised the family to take him to a hospital, but no boat was available.
For five hours, the family waited as the child's condition worsened. Eventually, they found a small boat and took him to the upazila health complex.
Describing the incident, neighbour Altaf Uddin recalled the fear of those hours. He said, "Rakib's condition suddenly became critical, and the child was no longer responding. Everyone became anxious, but without transport, the family was helpless. After considerable difficulty, they finally reached the hospital. The child is now doing relatively well."
Rakib's father earns his living by fishing in the river. His assessment of the ambulance was blunt: "The boat ambulance has never been of any use to people. I have not seen it carry a single patient even for a day."
The family's experience is not simply an isolated transport problem. Several thousand people live in Char Abdullah, Chargazaria and nearby char areas of Ramgati, where communication depends almost entirely on waterways.
During the monsoon, links between villages become almost completely cut off. In a medical emergency, hiring a trawler to reach Ramgati can cost between Tk3,000 and Tk6,000, an amount beyond the immediate reach of many low-income fishing and farming families.
Across the Meghna-surrounded char areas of Ramgati and neighbouring Kamalnagar, access to healthcare remains a major challenge.
Pregnant women, cardiac patients and people injured in accidents often have to depend on trawlers or engine-powered boats to reach hospitals. At night or during adverse weather, those journeys become slower, more difficult and more dangerous.
In that setting, the boat ambulance represented more than a government purchase. It was presented as a practical response to a geographical reality: roads cannot connect communities separated by river channels, but a properly staffed and maintained ambulance on water could.
It could have reduced delays, lowered transport costs and given families a reliable option when every hour mattered. For residents of the chars, it became a symbol of the possibility that emergency healthcare might finally be brought within reach.
Local allegations also raise questions about how the boat was used after its inauguration. Residents said that although it never functioned as an ambulance, local Awami League leaders initially used it.
Following criticism, the then upazila nirbahi officer recovered the vessel and left it in the canal. There it remained, without a driver, an operating plan or visible maintenance.
With no office or individual apparently accountable for keeping it operational, the vehicle that was supposed to help save lives was instead left to deteriorate.
Its present condition reflects those institutional failures. The ambulance is now without an engine, while other essential parts are missing or have reportedly been stolen. Its plastic covering may protect the exterior from rain and sunlight, but it cannot conceal the years of inaction beneath it.
The present administration has yet to provide a detailed explanation of what will happen next.
Asked about the ambulance, Ramgati Upazila Nirbahi Officer Sheikh Ehsan Uddin said, "I have recently joined this upazila. I will be able to comment only after looking into the matter."
His response leaves the most important questions unresolved: whether the missing engine and parts can be replaced, whether a driver and operating staff will be appointed, which office will take responsibility for maintenance, and whether the vessel can still be restored to service.
For the fishermen beside the canal, the issue is less administrative. They see the boat every day while working with their nets.
They know that on the chars across the river, families still wait for transport when a child collapses, a pregnant woman develops complications, a heart patient struggles to breathe, or an accident victim needs urgent care.
"Swapnojatra" translates to "dream journey". For the people it was meant to serve, however, that journey never began. Their promised lifeline remains beside the canal, unused, incomplete and wrapped in plastic, while patients facing medical emergencies continue to depend on whatever boat their families can find and afford.
