Lifebuoy Friendship Hospital serves 8 lakh patients

For more than two decades, Lifebuoy Friendship Hospital (LFH) has been providing healthcare services to people living in Bangladesh’s remote riverine communities.

Since its inception, the floating hospital has served more than 8.16 lakh patients and delivered over 13.5 crore healthcare services, including 489 surgical camps and more than 19,000 surgeries, according to a press release.

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Ruhul Quddus Khan, chief executive officer and managing director of Unilever Bangladesh Limited (UBL), along with members of the company’s management committee, recently visited the hospital’s operations in Gaibandha to see the initiative’s impact.

“At Unilever, we believe that good health opens the door to new possibilities in people’s lives,” Quddus said.

“For more than two decades, Lifebuoy Friendship Hospital has brought healthcare closer to hundreds of thousands of people living in Bangladesh’s remote char communities. We are truly proud to be part of this humanitarian initiative.

“Through our longstanding partnership with Friendship, we continue to work towards making healthcare more accessible to underserved communities. We will continue to support this important initiative so that more people can access reliable healthcare when they need it most,” he added.

The delegation toured the facilities, met healthcare professionals, interacted with patients and beneficiaries, and learned about the challenges of delivering healthcare in remote char communities.

Established through a long-standing partnership between Unilever’s health and hygiene brand Lifebuoy and social development organisation Friendship, the hospital began operations in 2002 after a barge brought from France was converted into a fully equipped floating hospital.

Over the years, it has evolved into a comprehensive healthcare facility offering primary and specialised services, including maternal and child healthcare, general medicine, eye care, dentistry, skin disease treatment, diagnostics and surgical procedures.

The hospital continues to serve geographically isolated communities where access to healthcare remains a major challenge.

In 2025 alone, it served 48,784 patients, conducted 36,051 general outpatient consultations, 4,442 specialist consultations and 987 surgeries, and performed more than 21,500 diagnostic tests.

It also reached 28,273 women and girls and 6,564 children. Essential medicine availability stood at 98 percent, while patient satisfaction was 95 percent.