Pakistani & Indian Doctors
come to Bolton to study Beauty Therapy

Training for the medical profession is notoriously arduous, with five years of university study, followed by many more as each doctor learns their specialism. An increasing number of doctors from the Indian Sub-continent are making their way to Bolton to seek specialised training, not in medical disciplines, but in advanced beauty therapy skills!

The name of Lillian Maund is already well known to beauty therapists on every continent. As Chairman of one of the world’s leading beauty professional bodies, she has been one of the beauty industry’s most successful practitioners. For more than twenty years, the Lillian Maund Training Centre, now based in Bolton, has educated students from Lagos to Los Angeles and from Brunei to Blackley, in the arts of beauty and body therapy.

In recent years however, a new trend has developed, as doctors from the Indian Sub Continent make their way to Bolton to learn Advanced Beauty Treatments at the centre, as Mrs Maund explained. "The last few years have seen a revolution within the Indian medical profession, as doctors trained in conventional medicine, seek out complementary skills in alternative fields. Many have turned to the beauty profession to expand the range of treatments they are able to offer their patients. Currently we have three Doctors studying at the centre. Some are on short courses, but one is completing the entire Beauty Therapy and Electrolysis courses."

"The Indian Beauty industry is growing phenomenally and we are feeling the effect of this in Bolton. For the last few years we have trained Indian doctors in advanced techniques, which they then use alongside medical treatments in their clinics. Unlike British Students, who vary from school leavers to experienced qualified therapists, our Indian Doctors have an insatiable thirst for knowledge."

"We are fortunate in that our new premises in Westgate House, near Queen’s Park are large enough to be able to offer flexible training without fixed start and completion dates, so we often have doctors coming for a week or two to study specific advanced treatments. Dermatologist, Dr Nirja Sheth from Rajkot in Gujerat has been with us for a few weeks getting an overview on how the profession works, with a view to expanding her two skin clinics."

As well as administering the medical facility and practising medicine, like many doctors, Dr Sheth has co-ordinated local experts to undertake specialised treatments and courses of care, but she discovered a skills shortage in the area of cosmetic care.

Dr Sheth explained why she had travelled from Gujerat to Bolton in search of knowledge. "I saw Mrs Maund in February, when she was demonstrating some advanced beauty therapy procedures to beauty therapists in Rajkot. At that time, I was present and thought, ‘I must go to Manchester to learn more, because these techniques are not taught in our country, so are not part of what medical practitioners can offer. We have many treatments at our disposal, but many of the treatments which Mrs Maund teaches, employ techniques which are new to the Indian Medical profession and enable us to expand our range of services. They allow is to offer more sophisticated treatments to our clients."

Amongst many well-known treatments, Dermatologist, Dr Nirja Sheth has been studying the anti-pollution regime, which treatment uses High Frequency machines to oxygenate the skin. This has a revitalising effect, described as being; ‘like someone breathing in a whiff of pure oxygen’.

Another Doctor, Ume Dupont currently lives in Bombay, but has a very cosmopolitan background. Hailing from Karachi, Pakistan’s former capital, where she trained as a doctor, she married a French Pharmaceutical Company Executive, with whom she now travels the world on his three year placements. "This lifestyle has had an effect on my medical career, as each country’s qualifications structure demands that I must re-qualify if I am to practice medicine. This can often take as long as I will be living in the country, so it is a problem," she explained. "I will be in Mumbai (the new name for Bombay) for another 18 months, so I have taken the opportunity to come here to England to learn some of the beauty professional’s skills."

We found Dr Dupont, learning a facial treatment from Mrs Maund, watched by a party of year ten work experience students from Bolton’s secondary schools, who seemed to be impressed not only by the doctor’s manual dexterity and speed of learning, but by her impressive linguistic skills. "As well speaking Urdu, English, Sindhi, Punjabi and Gujerati, I have lived for a long time in France, with my French Husband, so French is also second nature. It wasn’t so easy for my teenage son when we moved to Mumbai a short while ago. He didn’t speak a word of English back then, but he is becoming fluent now!"

The centre’s third medical student is a longer-term visitor, who has invested six months of her valuable time to complete the beauty therapy, electrolysis and body examinations, as well as a range of advanced treatments. This is less than a third of the time taken by most students. Dr Nishita Sheth is a Gujerati General Physician, who since qualifying six years ago at Bangalore University, has been running her own hospital in Baroda.

"I have come to Bolton, to undertake a course with Mrs Lillian Maund, after which my plan is to open up a Cosmetic Clinic Centre in Mumbai, which will offer both cosmetic treatments and also a Cosmetic Surgery Centre in the same city, using highly experienced plastic surgeons. This is an area, which is seeing rapid growth throughout India, and many doctors are expanding into this field to fulfil the demand."

"People’s expectations have changed," Dr Sheth continued. "Today’s client is more educated and knows what they want, and want results in a short time. It is up to us to expand our repertoire of treatments to match their expectations. As clients become much more sophisticated, they don’t just wants creams and massages. They can see beyond this elementary cosmetic care and want to receive effective treatments, which have a scientific basis."

Dr Sheth’s level of ability and previous medical training has made her progress very rapid, allowing her to cover in six months a course that most students cover in three times that period. "Obviously, being a doctor I know my anatomy and physiology extremely well, I know every muscle and bone, which allows me to learn much faster than a student who is having to learn this first."

Mrs Maund was preparing to leave for Baroda, where her team were to teach advanced treatments in fully- booked seminars and workshops. "In the last few years, I have noticed increasing numbers of doctors attending alongside beauty therapists. A few years ago, a Dr Pai from Bombay came over to study with us, and took her skills back to a clinic which has grown from strength to strength in the intervening years. Since then interest from the medical profession has grown to the extent that we now run Doctor-only courses in India, and Medics from that area are frequent visitors to us in Bolton."

"My only problems I have in these seminars is when I stop talking, because doctors are demanding students who soak up knowledge like sponges. Breaks are almost impossible to take because at the end of each session, they have a thousand questions, which need answering. It is delightful to have such students, although the respect they show can be a little daunting. One very highly educated student wanted me to touch her on her head to give a kind of blessing, which I find hard to understand!"

"In Late July, after our Baroda workshops," she continued, we will be working in Mumbai on a spin-off to the huge tour we did a few years ago. Then we covered many cities, including Bangalore, Delhi, Calcutta, Mumbai and Madras, and generated a lot of interest. There has been a demand for me to return to give two days of demonstrations and lectures to a large number of delegates, who are travelling from all over the country. The idea is to give an overview to the delegates, some of which will take part in more detailed workshops during September’s exhibition at Mumbai’s New World Trade Centre, an no doubt we will encounter more doctors wishing to continue their professional development with us back in Bolton."