As Malaysia moves towards becoming an ageing society, Lotus Group is keen to expand its retirement homes for senior citizens nationwide to meet increasing demand.
The group has allocated up to RM10mil for each home.
According to Malaysian Healthy Ageing Society (MHAS), those aged 60 years and above in the country is expected to hit 13.6% by 2030, from 6.2% in 2000.
Lotus Group chief business development officer Karthiik Doraisingam says the group has confirmed a total of four locations to set up its old folks care homes over the next four years in different states.
“We will have an old folks home ready in Kuala Lumpur by September next year, Melaka and Johor in 2021 as well as Penang in 2022, ” he says.
Last month, the group opened its first nursing home, Lotus Care, in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, which took up an investment of over RM2.5mil.
Lotus Care is a premium retirement home that consists of 83 customised beds for the elderly. Its services include full-board facility – lodging, dining, medical and housekeeping – as well as 24-hour monitoring and supervision with overseas trained nurses and personal care attendants.
“Lotus Care also provides optional physiotherapy, psychotherapy, grooming and other leisure activities. We also provide feeding via tube, catheter insertion and bedpan usage. Our professional physiotherapists conduct individual sessions for residents to help increase their mobility and muscle strength.
“Residents can treat themselves to manicures, pedicures, massages and hair styling services. We also have games and activities to encourage brain stimulation and physical movement for our residents, ” he says.
Through careful planning, Karthiik, 26, hopes to raise the profile of the group’s hospitality and healthcare assets. Currently, Lotus Group’s businesses include restaurants, hotels, resorts, real estate, plantations as well as film distribution and production.
But Karthiik notes that driving change in the group’s operations can be a challenge. Karthiik was the youngest member of the Lotus board when he joined it last year.
He admits that it is not always easy to get the older board members to see eye to eye when it comes to new trends and new technology, which includes the use of big data analytics to better understand and target consumer purchase patterns.
“It is important how we use these tools to our benefit. You can imagine my challenge in getting the older generation to understand big data.
“We are typically a family-owned business. Today, the biggest challenge is changing the mindset of the group to be key-performance-indicator-driven and to become a more professional organisation with clear goals, ” he says.
Being the first millennial to be on the board, Karthik’s vision is to diversify the group’s business and go even deeper into the healthcare industry while continuing the legacy of the group in the hospitality and entertainment business.
“My long term goal for the group is to step into the global arena by leading the hospitality and healthcare industry in Malaysia, ” he says.
