Labaid’s AI Leap: Pioneering Smarter, Fairer Healthcare Across Bangladesh
The cutting-edge qualities of Artificial Intelligence keep surprising everyone. It feels like yesterday when Elon Musk said the growth of AI is close to exponential. The health sector, like many, is also no stranger to this phenomenon, as Labaid Group is taking bold steps toward transforming the country’s healthcare landscape.
The Labaid group is venturing deep into AI to enhance the pace, accuracy and accessibility of treatment. In a recent interview with the Business Standard, Sakif Shamim, Managing Director of Labaid Cancer Hospital and Super Speciality Centre, said, ‘To make healthcare smarter and more precise, the Labaid Group is developing AI-based healthtech solutions and plans to establish 30 satellite cancer centres across Bangladesh.’
This initiative aims to support doctors with intelligent diagnostics, predictive analytics and digital patient management. These tools can help detect diseases earlier and personalise treatment in ways Bangladesh’s health system has rarely seen before. What’s more interesting is that the Labaid Group is prioritising collaboration with local developers and experts to create these technologies in Bangladesh rather than relying solely on imported systems. This focus on local innovation offers two brilliant strategies; it promises affordability and nurtures a new generation of healthtech professionals poised to shape the country’s medical future.
The satellite cancer centres will address reproductive cancers that disproportionately affect women, such as cervical and breast cancer. It links directly to broader sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) priorities. These centres could play a pivotal role in preventing avoidable deaths and reducing stigma around women’s health by ensuring earlier screening and better follow-up care.
“We have a company called Labaid Artificial Intelligence, under which two digital healthcare platforms – VirtuCare BD and Life Plus Bangladesh – are operating. Life Plus has been one of the country’s top 360-degree healthtech platforms for the past seven years, with around half a million users,” said Sakif. The interview further revealed that Labaid GPT is an AI-based second opinion system for doctors, which analyses tumour and other complications when a patient’s report is uploaded. As we move forward, the group is also developing an enterprise solution, which, according to Sakif, is another version similar to ChatGPT, and it can analyse medical symptoms and provide instant, authentic responses. Life Plus is already being used by the group, and Labaid GPT is in the trial phase.
AI-driven healthtech can further strengthen SRHR by supporting accurate diagnosis, confidential consultations, and remote counselling on issues like maternal health, contraception, and reproductive cancers. For many in rural Bangladesh, especially women and young people, such innovations could mean easier access to trusted information and timely care without fear or delay.
Labaid’s vision, if realised, won’t just redefine healthcare through technology; it could also advance SRHR by making dignity, choice, and access central to the country’s health journey.
Source:The Business Standard