Local News: Businesses in Southbank

Despite having only just moved here, Southbank Family Medical Centre practice principal Alex Niazov says he and his team have been overwhelmed by the response of the local community.

After establishing the service at the former site of the Medidock Health Centre at 216 City Rd, Mr Niazov said it had quickly become evident how much the area needed quality medical care.

“It’s clear that Southbank is crying out for an efficient, on-time, high quality service medical centre and that’s really what I’m looking to provide,” he said.

“I’m surprised because it usually takes us a little bit longer than what it’s taken us here so I’m surprised how quickly it all sort of came together in Southbank but the community seems to be very supportive of it.”

“We hope the patients love it, they’re telling us good things so we hope that it’s accurate!”

The Southbank practice is Mr Niazov’s third medical centre. He has clinics in North Melbourne and Oakleigh – both successful and community-focused models.

The clinic has recently started opening two nights a week on Tuesdays and Thursday, with the intention of expanding hours to 8am until 11pm, seven days a week in the future.

General manager of the Australian Family Medical Centre Group Christopher Brown said offering an evening service was crucial for Southbank’s young working demographic and was all part of the business’s belief of “going that extra mile” for its patients.

“Having a doctor here late at night is really good I think because there seems to be a lack of coverage in this area for a late night clinic,” he said.

“We’re focused on delivering very high quality patient care and just going that extra mile because that’s what really makes a big difference – making sure we follow up and making sure they get good customer service and that they’re not just a number.”

The clinic offers an extensive range of services, which includes general health care, chiropractic, dietary and mental health services, immunisations, skin checks, work-related injury treatment, travel vaccinations and much more.

The highly experienced team also possesses specialist care for both women’s and men’s health, as well as multilingual doctors and nurses.

Mr Brown said the team was determined to help local families by engaging with the local community in a number of ways.

“Our female GP also loves kids, she really likes working with kids, which is perfect because we’ve got Boyd across the road and she specialises in that field so she really wants to make a project out of working with all the families,” he said.

“We’ll be having university students as well here for training and learning so we want to give back as well and help the next generation of doctors progress.”

Having first worked at the Meat and Wine Co in Southbank as a university student, Mr Niazov said he was proud to return and give back to a community that he was passionate about.

“Any place I worked after that you never found that same vibe and that’s what Southbank is and it’s strange to see because it’s so close to the city and yet it still almost has that small town community feel about it,” he said.

“People are friendly and they want to come here and it’s really amazing so it’s nice to be apart of that community and be able to offer a service to them.”