At the heart of the Nilphamari facility is Santona Akter, a trained female community paramedic with an ambition to become a health entrepreneur. With Swisscontact acting as a facilitator, she received the guidance and support needed to transform her standalone local clinic into a scalable, technology-driven ASTHA CARE centre, strategically located at the convergence of four sub-districts, in a community that previously had no equipped medical facility within 30 minutes.
This locally owned centre is the second node in a planned network of about 100 community-based healthcare enterprises across rural Bangladesh by 2028. At scale, the network is projected to reach approximately 500,000 rural residents and reduce patient out-of-pocket spending by 40%. Between 20 and 30 centres will be strategically deployed in areas facing the highest risk of climate-induced health crises, embedding resilience directly into underserved communities.
The inauguration ceremony was graced by Mawlana Obaidullah Salafi, Honourable Member of Parliament of Nilphamari-3. He was joined by Helal Hossain, Country Director of Swisscontact, and Mohammad Wali Ul Islam, Chairman of Carnival Care Limited. Also in attendance were Md Rokibul Islam, Chairman of Khutamara Union Parishad, and local leaders and community dignitaries.
Each ASTHA CARE facility offers a comprehensive package of services, including daily general practitioner consultations, rapid diagnostic testing, both in-person and digital specialist consultations, access to authentic medicines, and a digital medical records system that can be accessed from any ASTHA CARE centre nationwide. Swisscontact and Carnival Care are actively engaging prospective entrepreneurs nationwide to replicate this model. This expansion explicitly prioritises climate-vulnerable regions.
