RIYADH: The Hevolution Foundation demonstrated its new healthspan journey service at the Global Healthspan Summit.
Called Nafatha, the service comprises finger-prick and blood pressure tests, body composition analysis and a retinal scan.
The pop-up clinic was offered at the summit after the company was granted approval from the Saudi Food and Drug Authority.
Ophthalmologist and Vice President of Medicine Dr. Sophia Pathai said Nafatha, which means window in Arabic, provided a “window into your health.”
“We’re not providing medical advice per se and we’re not providing medicines,” she said.
“We had to keep ourselves very much within the safety regulations. But what I’ve learned as I’ve been a physician for over 20 years is that you can have all the best technology in the world. But (it’s) you what’s really valuable indeed, what we found in the other is the personalized human touch.”
The process begins with a questionnaire about the client’s diet, lifestyle, sleep and stress that allows physicians to gain a better understanding of their health journey.
“It’s a snapshot for you to start to elevate, not your health, but your healthspan journey,” Pathai said. “If you have 45 minutes of your precious day to spend with us, we can offer you a 360 experience.”
Patients are told how stress levels can affect the body and receive a personal consultation with experts in biomedical nutrition and sports physiology.
“We know that stress is a key driver of aging,” Pathai said. “So, if you can measure it happening at the cellular level, we have a window into what’s happening at the organ level. And then what’s happening in our whole body.
“There are those who are very stressed and others who really know how to manage that work-life balance that we have these archetypes. With that information, we can understand how best to put you on your healthspan journey.”
Patients receive their results in downloadable reports with recommendations for exercise, sleep and nutrition that are localized to the Gulf region.
Pathai said: “The eye is the window to the soul. So, the retinal scanning gives that added dimension.
“We are complementing that with personalized retinal scanning by one of my colleagues from Heidelberg Engineering, who have developed a machine for looking at the back of the eye and we can detect very early who might have an increased likelihood of diabetes or even diabetic changes in the back of their eye.”
To support local Saudi talent, the Hevolution team hired local healthcare professionals to be a part of the Nafatha team.
Pathai said she was optimistic about the future.
“I think it’s so exciting that we can be almost futuristic in this aspiration where you could have a point of care testing that is looking at body parameters by parameters and elevate you on your healthspan journey.
“So many people, clients who went through who are thought-leaders, CEOs and members of the royal family said, ‘We would love to have this.’ So in my mind, it’s about scaling across and up. I would love to think about how this would be in Taif, Jazan and Dammam.”