SINGAPORE (Oct 28): According to most Asian cultures, mothers are required to confine themselves for a whole month after giving birth. This period, also known as the “sitting month”, sees mothers undergoing traditional recuperation practices and being confined to the house.

During this time, mothers will usually hire a live-in nanny or “confinement lady” to help with their recuperation and care of the newborn. A full-time live-in nanny in Singapore could cost up to about $5,000 a month, although most people pay an average of about $2,500 for a non-live-in nanny or opt for a part-time confinement nanny, who is not much cheaper than a full-time one and will require the parents to wake up in the middle of the night to tend to the newborn.

Although the tradition is for mothers to undergo their confinement at home or in the home of their parents or in-laws, many mothers are breaking away from this practice for better quality treatment and services from postpartum or confinement centres.

Riding on this increasing trend, IEV Holdings Ltd (IEV) announced on Sept 16 that its wholly-owned subsidiary, HealthPro Pte Ltd, has acquired the entire issued share capital of Lady Paradise (M) Sdn Bhd — which has 20 years’ experience in postpartum care — for RM3.5 million ($1.2 million). It paid for the acquisition by issuing and allotting an aggregate of 46 million new shares at 2.5 cents each to the sellers.

This marks IEV’s foray into the healthcare sector, a significant departure from its current core business — the oil and gas sector. IEV says it undertook the acquisition as the overall O&G industry has been badly hit by low oil prices.

“Since the collapse of the oil price, it has been a rough ride for us, as well as other companies [in the O&G industry],” says IEV CEO Christopher Nghia Do.

“We basically have a long-term view that the O&G industry might be going through a certain [rough] time for quite a period, especially now with the trade war looming. So, in order to recover the value of our shares for shareholders, we thought of diversifying [into a different industry]. That’s the reason we are looking at the healthcare and wellness industry to reduce our exposure to the O&G industry,” he adds.

At an extraordinary general meeting on Oct 18, IEV shareholders gave the go-ahead for the acquisition of Lady Paradise, paving the way for the company’s diversification and eventual growth in the healthcare, postpartum care and wellness business.

Traditionally, new mothers are strongly advised to consume warming and “heating” food, avoid baths, have postpartum body massages and not leave the house during the confinement period.

Despite all this care, it is nevertheless a stressful period for mothers and if not managed well, can lead to postpartum depression. Along with rising affluence, demand for better care has naturally grown. “These days, there is more demand for better healthcare for both mothers and babies,” Dato’ Ken Low, executive director of IEV Holdings, tells <i>The Edge Singapore</i>.

Low was appointed executive director of IEV Holdings in June and assigned by the board of directors to look into diversification. He has since identified the healthcare and postpartum industry as an area of diversification because of the strong and growing demand. At the newly acquired Lady Paradise, which has over 20 years’ experience in postpartum care, the staff are trained to help take care of the needs of both the mother and newborn child.

The luxury postpartum business started booming in China and Taiwan as incomes in the East Asian region started rising. According to <i>The Legal Daily</i>, a Chinese state newspaper, the number of postpartum centres grew exponentially from just dozens in 2000 to more than 4,000 in 2017.

Low expects this trend to catch on in this region too. Riding on this trend, the group has plans to open up a luxury postpartum care centre in Singapore and more in Malaysia.

Apart from marrying modern and traditional practices for mothers in confinement, IEV Holdings is planning to revamp the current Lady Paradise in Selangor, Malaysia, turning it into a luxury postpartum centre, which will offer added services to pamper the mother, such as yoga classes, a hair salon on the premises and rooms that resemble those of five-star hotels.

Lady Paradise’s offerings will be a stark contrast to what most new mothers make do with now: confinement nannies. While confinement nannies have been around for a long time, theirs is not a regulated sector. Many confinement nannies and parents rely on traditional methods, which may be irrelevant today.

The operators of Lady Paradise aim to change all that. The company will apply a clear standard for how the staff will take care of the babies. While scientifically proven modern solutions and techniques will be employed, they will also use beneficial traditional confinement practices.

“What we offer is going to be a combination of traditional confinement practices coupled with modern techniques. We will have a good mix between the two and try to pick the best parts of both practices, while trying as much as possible to standardise the healthcare treatments,” says Low.

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