‘The idea is to have a pharmacy and clinic that serves all the people of the community and make it welcoming,’ says part-owner of Orillia Downtown Pharmacy<\/p>\n
Orillia\u00a0family physician Dr. Mohammed Khaliq has moved his practice into the Orillia Downtown Pharmacy \u2014 a move that provides the first doctor for the Orillia Downtown Walk-In Clinic in the same building at the corner of Mississaga and Front streets.<\/p>\n
Dr. Khaliq was forced to find a new location, after the collapse of the roof over City Med Pharmacy and Walk-In Clinic at 43 Colborne St. W. on March 11.<\/p>\n
“While I was away on holiday, the roof collapsed. Luckily no one was hurt,” said Khaliq.<\/p>\n
City Med Walk-In Clinic and Pharmacy and Orillia Corner Market were forced to close after the roof collapse over the two businesses<\/a>.<\/p>\n Khaliq, who had worked at City Med <\/a>for more than a year, was already looking for a larger space but the roof collapse hastened his search for a new location.<\/p>\n “I’ve got patients rostered to me. It looks like it’s not going to open for a couple of months. I was worried about my patients … I wasn’t going to wait around all that time,” he said.<\/p>\n Khaliq spoke to Ashish Hadvani, a part owner of Pharmabest, which owns the Orillia Downtown Pharmacy, who welcomed him into their space at the corner of Mississaga and Front streets.<\/p>\n “I’m grateful that they let me work here because otherwise I didn’t know what I was going to do for my rostered patients,” Khaliq said.<\/p>\n Hadvani told OrilliaMatters the timing was ideal.<\/p>\n “We’ve been looking for doctors and different clinics and Dr. Khaliq was looking for a place for treatment for his patients, so we joined forces,” said Hadvani.<\/p>\n Khaliq trained in family medicine in the United Kingdom and practised medicine there for more than 15 years before coming to Canada. He said he wanted to practise medicine in Canada because it’s similar to medicine in the UK.<\/p>\n He was attracted to Orillia because of the Lake Couchiching waterfront and said he is grateful for the community and wants to continue working in Orillia. Khaliq has a full roster of patients.<\/p>\n “It’s full for the time being. I want to make sure I’m able to serve my rostered patients. That’s why I’m here, but also we are here to support the community as well. If they need to get seen, I’m here,” he said.<\/p>\n He’s in the shop in person Monday to Thursday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Friday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.<\/p>\n Pharmabest purchased the former Orillia Dispensary in 2024 and completely renovated the space at\u00a0188 Mississaga St. E. \u2014\u00a0inside and out.<\/p>\n “It was not in good shape and not welcoming to the community. We made it feel more welcoming to the community so we can serve everyone in the community,” Hadvani said.<\/p>\n While Khaliq is the first doctor working inside the pharmacy, there is room for more doctors. The pharmacy also houses the Georgian Bay Clinic and New Dawn Clinic for addiction treatment.\u00a0<\/p>\n “If someone wants to come in and work, we’d be happy to help them,” said Hadvani. “The idea is to have a pharmacy and clinic that serves all the people of the community and make it welcoming so that everyone is comfortable.”<\/p>\n To contact the walk-in clinic call\u00a0705-325-0798<\/a>\u00a0or email:\u00a0[email\u00a0protected]<\/a>.<\/p>\n The pharmacy manager and co-owner is\u00a0Sehjad Kamal. Pharmacy hours are Monday to Friday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Phone: (705) 325-4010<\/a>. Email: [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"‘The idea is to have a pharmacy and clinic that serves all the people of the community and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":580249,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,222153,84,392],"class_list":["post-580248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-dr-mohammed-khaliqorillia-downtown-pharmacy-and-walk-in-clinicashish-hadvanipharmabestorillia-walk-in-clinicwalk-in-clinic-orillia","tag-health","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=580248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/580249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=580248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=580248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=580248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}