Dr. Punitha qualified as a medical doctor in 1996 when she was conferred the Bachelor Degree of Medicine and the Bachelor Degree of Surgery (MBBS) by the Kasturba Medical College (KMC), Manipal, under the Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), India. Pursuant to her graduation, Dr. Punitha served the Ministry of Health, Malaysia as a Medical Officer for six(6) years.
Dr. Punitha hails from a family of doctors, wherein her husband is also a prominent and established practising Urologist in the city of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Dr. Punitha’s maiden foray into the business world was realised when she joined her well established family owned plastic manufacturing business in 2003. Having being empowered with the scope, authority and the latitude to look into all matters relating to the operational, business developmental and product innovation aspects of the company, Dr. Punitha was able to institute several significant and far reaching strategies that assisted in transforming the company into a major plastic products manufacturer in the country, as well as increasing its market share within the export market segment. Dr. Punitha introduced the manufacturing of plastic products for the medical industry, hence adding on to the range of products being manufactured. In addition, Dr. Punitha was instrumental in the company being awarded the ISO Quality System Certification, and, in 2008, her diligence in expanding the company’s export market reach was officially recognised by the Malaysian government when the Malaysian External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) bestowed her with the Women Exporters Development Programme (WEDP) award. This in turn paved the way for Dr. Punitha to participate in international trade events as well as in specialized marketing and trade missions organised by MATRADE.
In 2011, Dr. Punitha was handpicked to serve in the office of Malaysia’s Special Envoy of Infrastructure to India and Southern Asia. The Special Envoy was conferred with the rank of a Federal Government Minister who reported directly to the Prime Minister. Here, Dr. Punitha held the position of Special Advisor to the Special Envoy. As this office of the Malaysian Federal Government was tasked with the responsibility of securing large infrastructure projects for Malaysian based conglomerates and consortiums in South Asia, Dr. Punitha as the Special Advisor was exposed to and involved in major negotiations and liaison work with the Federal/Central Governments of these South Asian countries as well as with their respective state/regional governments and relevant governmental agencies. The three(3)-year period that Dr. Punitha served in the Office of the Special Envoy enabled her to serve the nation and to contribute towards the advancement of national interests.
Upon her departure from the Special Envoy’s office in 2014, Dr. Punitha was appointed as Advisory Director on the Board of Meinhardt Group, a leading global planning, engineering and project management company providing services from 55 offices in five (5) continents and covering all major sectors such as buildings, technology, infrastructure and environment. Dr. Punitha’s ongoing main role at Meinhardt is to advise, co-ordinate and secure projects that are in relation to engineering, procurement, construction and management (EPCM) contracts while facilitating the establishment of Meinhardt as a major player in the healthcare sub-sector and a regional hub.
In early 2020, with the world in the initial grips of the Covid-19 pandemic, Dr. Punitha spearheaded the establishment of Healthcache Sdn. Bhd., a company incorporated and based in Malaysia. Healthcache is comprised of a team of medical professionals along with individuals from other strategic fields that have come together to source for quality medical products, including Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) products and Infectious and Communicable Diseases Products and/or Services, such as but not limited to, high quality nitrile disposable gloves, surgical masks and Covid-19 Rapid Test Kits (CRTKs), from reliable Malaysian manufacturers and suppliers who meet international standards, in order to supply to a varied range of buyers on a global scale in a world that prioritises quality healthcare and medical solutions. In addition, Healthcache undertakes advisory and consultancy services in relation to the healthcare industry and healthcare services for its clients.
With the Malaysian government’s stated intention of promoting the medicinal cannabis industry within Malaysia, Healthcache, under the adaptive leadership style of Dr. Punitha, has already initiated plans to work with the Ministry of Health, Malaysia and the Malaysian National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Authority (NPRA) in order to identify the importation and promotion of suitable medicinal cannabis products as well as organising the provision of training and education for the local Malaysian medical fraternity. Dr Punitha has also identified opportunities in the upstream segment of the medicinal cannabis supply chain in the form of hemp cultivation in partnership with the government in order to ensure supply chain security as well as a source of export earnings for Healthcache.
Dr. Punitha’s vision is to transform Healthcache into a unique and focused high quality healthcare products supplier with a global market over the next five(5) years.
