Praava Health inaugurates its first family health centre in Banani

Praava Health inaugurated its first family health centre in Banani of Dhaka yesterday.

A Microsoft Bangladesh Biz Spark partner, Praava is building a better patient experience enabled by technology. It is also reintroducing the concept of family medicine, particularly the family doctor, to Bangladesh.

The inauguration ceremony started at 10:30am. It was led by Sylvana Q Sinha, Founder, Managing Director, & CEO of Praava and was honoured by the presence of Zunaid Ahmed Palak MP, Minister of State for Information and Communication Technology, according to a press release from Praava Health.

Also present were Sonia Bashir Kabir, the Managing Director of Microsoft Bangladesh; Dr Jabil Rahman Sinha, Deputy Managing Director, The Acme Laboratories; Wendy Werner, Country Manager: Bangladesh, Bhutan, & Nepal, International Finance Corporation; and trending pioneer and former Twitter Chief Scientist Dr Abdur Chowdhury.

“Proper health care is our basic human right. Every patient deserves to be treated with care and respect. My own experience compelled me to imagine family health centres where professionalism, expertise, and trust between physician and patient are not luxuries of the lucky few, but rights and realities for every citizen,” Sinha said in the programme.

She added, “The future of health care will leverage artificial intelligence, smart design, and biotechnology, and Praava is planning to use technology to enable a better patient experience and improve access and outcomes for Bangladeshis. Technology can never replace your doctor, but it can help you and your care team to better manage your health.”

“Bangladesh is embracing a digital transformation thanks to Praava and other entrepreneurs who are introducing technology to the health sector. Bangladesh is also moving forward in inclusion, and I am happy to see Praava setting a good example with so many women in senior leader ship positions. I am particularly excited about Praava's initiative to connect doctors from the US and abroad to Bangladesh,” Zunaid Ahmed Palak said.

The Banani Praava Family Health Centre is the first in a network of such facilities which will offer consultations with family doctors and a full range of diagnostic services including lab and imaging, says the release.  

The company is introducing Bangladesh’s first molecular cancer diagnostics (Polymerase Chain Reaction, or PCR) lab in breast, cervical, colorectal, and lung cancers, as well as the country’s first fully integrated Hospital Information System (HIS), including Electronic Health Records (EHR) and featuring a patient portal available on the internet and as a phone app.