DEMAND for postpartum services had seen a steep rise as new parents, especially millennials, are embracing postpartum centres to care for mothers and their new-borns, instead of traditional confinement services.
This shift is accelerated by COVID-19 related limitations as well. Before the pandemic, Malaysia was the primary source of confinement nannies. However, the pandemic and border restrictions have resulted in new parents having to contend with a limited number of local nannies and some without having their parents to turn to due to the travel restrictions.
“Despite these uncertain and disruptive times, we felt that there are still insurmountable opportunities in Malaysia that we can still explore,” Medi Lifestyle’s executive chairman and CEO Datuk Low Koon Poh said.
“As such, we took the leap to forge ahead and successfully achieved notable milestones in Malaysia and are en-route to becoming a full-fledged healthcare and wellness group in the region.
”The pandemic gave Medi Lifestyle Ltd an opportunity to acquire premises which have closed down, converting them into postpartum services centres to provide a professional one stop complete suite of post-natal care for both mother and baby in Malaysia.
To re-cap, Medi Lifestyle (formerly known as IEV Holdings Ltd) was involved in the provision of a range of integrated engineering solutions to support the offshore oil and gas industry in the Asia Pacific region. In 2019, the company diversified into the healthcare sector, including postpartum care and wellness business in Malaysia and Singapore.
On Nov 26, Medi Lifestyle has fully divested itself of its engineering business and changed its name to Medi Lifestyle Ltd to reflect the company’s primary focus on the healthcare sector.
First postpartum service centre in Singapore
Moving forward in 2021/22, exciting plans are in the pipeline to establish Medi Lifestyle as the premium healthcare and wellness group, the first Singapore postpartum service centre to be launched in the last quarter of 2021.
“This is a significant move which is essential for new parents who had emigrated from Malaysia to Singapore and are now unable to go back to their home country for confinement,” Low remarked.
In Malaysia, a second centre will be coming up soon with 50 suites equipped with a nursery, incubation room, in-house chiropractic and physiotherapy services – targeted to be operational by the second quarter of 2021.
Traditional confinement practices, alternative medicine
Nadora – the first professional postpartum wellness care service centre by Medi Lifestyle– was launched last year. Nadora weaves together traditional confinement practices and contemporary nursing care by combining the expertise of healthcare practitioners and wellness specialists to curate a wellness programme for new mothers.
In addition, Nadora also provides personalised wellness services including yoga sessions, newborn care consultation, breastfeeding support and genetic profiling that help assist mothers in their journey to motherhood holistically.
Meanwhile, Medi Lifestyle has also incorporated a wholly-owned subsidiary – Back to Life Sdn. Bhd – which will be used as a vehicle to offer services related to alternative medicine including traditional Chinese medicine, chiropractic and physiotherapy services. These services are available in its postpartum centres as well as stand-alone centres.
Appeared in FocusMalaysia.my on 6 June 2021.
DEMAND for postpartum services had seen a steep rise as new parents, especially millennials, are embracing postpartum centres to care for mothers and their new-borns, instead of…Continue reading
