HAVING lifted business at Chiltern’s chemist, pharmacist Michael Beniamine is taking on a bigger challenge in another Indigo Shire town.
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The Egyptian-born migrant will open Tangambalanga’s first full-scale pharmacy on Monday.
“I came three years ago and had a look,” Mr Beniamine said.
Realising the town lacked a chemist Mr Beniamine tried to find suitable premises without luck until mechanic Wally Dewar suggested he could use an area adjoining his workshop.
“I was talking with Wally, the mechanic, and asked if he had a shop for rent and he said ‘we have the storeroom and we can clean it out and you can use it’,” Mr Beniamine said.
“Because there is no pharmacy and Tangambalanga is growing hopefully it will grow bigger and bigger and save the local community time because the nearest pharmacy from here is 20 kilometres away in Wodonga or Tallangatta.”
Mr Beniamine will work with his wife Madonna at Tangambalanga, but still manage Chiltern’s chemist where he has employed a new pharmacist, Mina Estafanos, from Lavington.
“I’m very happy and excited and a little bit worried because we have put a lots of effort and money into it,” Mr Beniamine said.
”We moved from Chiltern to here to open the pharmacy, so I really hope it will work and grow.”
Mr Beniamine has faith in Kiewa-Tangambalanga’s population of 700 to 800 growing through large approved subdivisions.
He would like his presence to encourage a doctor to serve the towns which have been without a medico for a decade.
“Hopefully with a new pharmacy a doctor will come because having a doctor beside the pharmacy each will support the other,” Mr Beniamine said.
The father of two moved to Australia from Egypt 6½ years ago and initially worked in Sydney before shifting to Chiltern nearly four years ago.
The Tangam Pharmacy will be officially opened by Indigo Shire mayor James Trenery at 9.30am Monday and be open 5½ days a week.
Indigo Shire deputy mayor and Tangambalangian Peter Croucher said the pharmacy was an “unexpected” boost for the area and he expected the community would be “very, very grateful”.