Go shopping for some healthy packages

Sun, May 4 12:35 AM

Soon, you'll be able to combine retail therapy with physiotherapy. Retail chains are setting up medical clinics, pharmacies and wellness centres in malls across the country.

Mumbai-based Future Group and Bangalore-based Manipal Education and Medical Group (MEMG) are among those combining health with shopping. Such clinics, they say, make perfect business sense as they lend themselves to the organised retail format.

Besides, having them in a high-footfall environment will ensure a regular stream of customers. The chains will offer services like diabetes care, home diagnostic equipment, health food, orthopaedic support, dental care, holistic health care and specialty skin care.

Tulsi, the Future Group's wellness chain, mainly provides pharmacy services, while MEMG's healthcare division is setting up a chain of clinics - Manipal Cure and Care - where you can get skin treatment. Wellness centres built into the clinics would have a range of therapies, including massages and hair treatment, said Ranjan Pai, chief executive officer, MEMG. "Many people have an aversion to hospitals.

On the other hand, going to a mall is fun. And, once you are in the clinic, you can get treatments ranging from orthopaedic care to a pill for a mere cold," said Pai.

Shruti Marfatia, a 22-year-old graduate, said she's looking forward to the skin care clinics. "It would be a good idea to check out the beauty clinics in malls.

If they offer better services than my parlour, I might even make a shift," she said. Noopur Jain, a 29-year-old retail banker, though, said she'd stick to the neighbourhood parlour.

"The USP of malls is instant purchases and family entertainment. Moreover, malls are usually too far away from residential areas," she said.

Some malls may even set up kiosks in the lobby where shoppers could drop in for quick check-ups. "Tulsi is being positioned as the 'health corner' in our stores.

Already present in 45 Big Bazaar outlets, it is a pharmacy chain that sells prescribed and over-the-counter drugs, with an emphasis on Ayurvedic mixes. There is also equipment like blood pressure monitors," said Rajan Malhotra, CEO, Big Bazaar.

Doctors say it's up to patients to decide how comfortable they would be in a clinic inside a mall.

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