Peter Lim’s daughter says “expensive stocks of botox, fillers expire in the fridge” as beauty clinics are deemed ‘nonessential’

Billionaire heiress Kim Lim spoke out on Instagram last week (May 20) after it was announced that beauty clinics were not deemed to be ‘essential services’.

The daughter of local billionaire Peter Lim wrote that beauty clinics – such as her own – were hard to sustain as “ having no income for 2 months is pushing the limit”.

Essential services include treatment of serious or emergency medical conditions, procedures or surgery to prevent deterioration of a patient’s condition and services that can be affected by time delay, such as in-vitro fertilisation.

According to a Ministry of Health (MOH) circular dated April 30, some of the non-essential services provided by the healthcare providers include health screenings for insurance policies, consultation for skin and hair conditions which were stable, as well as beauty treatments like Botox injections, fillers and chemical peels.

In her Instagram post, Ms Lim wrote: “Is it expensive to run an aesthetic clinic? Yes, it is”.

“Like many other businesses, the aesthetic industry has been badly hit and having no income for 2 months is pushing the limit. Now we are told that this will drag on for longer, it’s going to be hard to sustain. We have to watch other businesses resume, while our expensive stocks of botox, fillers expire in the fridge”, she added.

Asking why aesthetic clinics had to remain shut while other businesses reopened, Ms Lim wrote, “Private aesthetic clinics uphold the very high standards that are expected of all HCIs. Hygiene has always been one of our priorities especially for aesthetic businesses”.

Ms Lim’s clinic Illumia Therapeutics is at Orchard Road’s Wheelock Place.

She concluded her post by adding that, “There should be a BALANCE to everything. Shutting businesses down for an extended period is not the best way to deal with this, we can all learn to support and fight this together in a safe manner too”.

Netizens who commented on her post were divided, with some agreeing that aesthetic clinics should be given the green light, but others wanting to wait a while more before reopening.

/TISG

 

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Is it expensive to run an aesthetic clinic? Yes, it is. Especially if you were getting top of the line machines because we want to offer the latest and best technology to our clients. The PICO lasers, Fat Freeze machines, HIFUs come at a high cost with ongoing installments, even when we are not operating. Like many other businesses, the aesthetic industry has been badly hit and having no income for 2 months is pushing the limit. Now we are told that this will drag on for longer, it’s going to be hard to sustain. We have to watch other businesses resume, while our expensive stocks of botox, fillers expire in the fridge. Please spare a thought for us, as we are earning zero income and we are expected to pay our bills, our installments, rentals and staff salaries. If some businesses can resume with measures put in place, why can’t aesthetic clinics do the same? Private aesthetic clinics uphold the very high standards that are expected of all HCIs. Hygiene has always been one of our priorities especially for aesthetic businesses. Even before this pandemic we have been practising and maintaining premise cleanliness and hygiene. Face masks and gloves have been used when coming in contact with patients, needles only used once and we always sterilise all our equipment. We can operate only by appointment, keep services short, put in place social distancing, disinfect our premises more regularly, wear a face shield on top of our face masks etc. On top of that, we are establishments with trained medical professionals, with nurses and doctors. The health and safety of our patients has always been our priority. I believe that there are other businesses, beyond aesthetic, that are required to extend their circuit breaker measures. They are fighting to sustain their business, maintain livelihood, retain valuable employees and to continue serving customers again. There should be a BALANCE to everything. Shutting businesses down for an extended period is not the best way to deal with this, we can all learn to support and fight this together in a safe manner too. ??

A post shared by K I M L I M (@kimlimhl) on May 19, 2020 at 8:51pm PDT