NKF-that can of worms has already been opened!
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now the finance minister is saying they have to look into the mismanagement of NKF, even if it affects the ministry.
all for the sake of election again? -
NKF is asking MOH for $4 million subsidise.
the reason?
so that they need not dig into their reserves.
what a reason!!!! -
now NKF says they need another 50k donors.
reason?
their reserves cannot last more than 7 years.
kns right?
i believe without a job the savings of individual singaporeans cannot last 7 years too.
why do they need more than 7 years of reserves? -
$200 million in reserves and on their mind is resuming fund raising?
On my mind is throwing out the entire NKF board and have a new team of volunteers to consult and learn from KDF and NKF Malaysia on how to run a no-frills, budget NKF.
Agree? -
isnt this typical of singapore entities?
save a hell lot of money but can say what it is for. -
"If you dont donate, the patients will die", said Prof Goh the Interim NKF chief.
My goodness. That sounded like a kidnapper asking for ransom money isnt it?
They are using the patients' life to threaten us to give.
And to think that they have more than 200 million dollars in the reserve.
What is the world becoming ?
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i am not going to donate a single cent to them.
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We should petition them to sell the most "MOST CONTROVERSIAL" iconic and hotel like headquarter and it can easily fetch another $200 million and it will last double the number of years and they need not have to raise fund at all!What a luxury the NKF staff are enjoying for the past years besides the GOLDEN TAPs and the big peanuts!How about the hanky panky and many other missing links which they may not reveal? There may be more peanut planters around!
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The auditor report will be released at mid Dec.
The temp Boss of NKF know that when the report is released, the public can forget about donating to NKF.
That is why they using "rational" reason to persuade the general public that they still need more reserves on top of the 4-5 years reserves that they have accumulated.
I wonder which Charity Organisation can ask for more reserves when they have already so much reserves ???
Does the rest of Singapore Charity have to pile up so much reserves ???
The initial report already show so much mis-management on such a high profile charity organisation.
I wonder the body that performing the yearly check should be punished for doing any job for the past 13 years !!!!! -
the ironic thing is some singaporeans are stupid enough to response. there are 1001 charities out there in need of funds yet many continue to donate to NKF when they already have more than enough.
that is the problem with singaporeans isnt it?
many just refused to use their brains, letting their emotion takes control. -
Donors have more than fulfilled their needs (giving them a healthy $200 mil reserve).
Now they've become greedy while there are many more starving charities.
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extracted from CNA.
SINGAPORE : The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) has recently opened its accounts for all to see.
On Thursday, it revealed that its reserves will only last about six years.
It is doing this in the hope of mending public confidence.
41-year-old renal nurse Xu Chun has never been ashamed of donning her NKF uniform.
But since the NKF saga broke out in July, she has been mindful not to put on her NKF name tag in public places.
Xu Chun is not alone in suffering the backlash of public anger over the mismanagement of NKF's former CEO.
"My colleague wanted to rent a room but once the owner knew she was from NKF, she said no. And some of my other colleagues say some people threw eggs at the centre's doors," said Xu, who is the Acting Charge Nurse of New Creation Church-NKF Dialysis Centre.
But there are others out there who are still supportive of the charity.
"Early last month, an uncle walked in and wanted to donate $200. I was surprised and asked him why. He just said patients still need our support. I was really moved," said Nurse Xu.
In support of NKF, one of its past donors - the Thong Teck Sian Tong Lian Sin Sia Temple in Woodlands - has donated $100,000 to help kidney patients switch to peritoneal dialysis.
For past NKF donors like the New Creation Church, which gave $2.6million to build this dialysis centre four years ago, kidney patients' welfare is its main concern.
"As long as money raised is for the benefit of the patients, we'll still go ahead. This is regardless of how much they have in reserves as long as the reserves are accounted for and the money goes to the patient," said Deacon Matthew Kang of New Creation Church.
And this is the kind of attitude NKF hopes the public would adopt - to help it deliver its main mission of caring for kidney patients. -
i really dont understand singaporeans mentality.
donate to KDF if you want to help kidney patients. why must it be NKF? why? -
After opening the NKF account, there are so much surprises in the human and cash management of the reputable 13 year old charitable organisation.
Even if the account are fully disclosed in Mid Dec 2005, there is still one nagging question that Mr Ee and the MP have not addressed.
What are the punishment to Mr Durai and his committee members ???
If the guilty party can be let go scot free, dun expect the public to donate any more.
The Singapore is not stupid the second time.
If no punishment is meted out, there will be future offenders without repent. -
The Seven years of reserve was clearly not measured in terms of patients' needs for treatments.
It is very clear that NKF has conceived some kind of grand plan to expand its network to cover some other areas outside its purview of kidney treatments. Why ? Is it not the MOH role to do so? People pay taxes and should expect a certain amount of assistance in getting treatments for illness.
NKF should not try to take over the role of providing full range of medical care of people from the government. It is for the government to relent on its harsh policy of the past to push medical care back to the people under the name of avoiding welfarism. It can easily set up an endowment fund and use the interests to sustain certain part of kidney treatments. It should not try to pass the buck back to the people. It should not try to use NKF or people's monies to keep building up reserves which at the end might not be put to patient use. Apparently NKF has been used to some extent to cover its own lack or shortcomings in such areas.
The grand plan to build more medical facilities is one but who is to safeguard the monies that it will not be misused to build more grandios buildings and more of the 7 wonders, plus a privately used fleet of Mercedes.
Cut out the hidden agenda to make NKF a medical institution to substitute the government's own lack of care for the medical needs of people, NKF can do much better. Just concentrate on reducing patient costs to serve the patients there will be no need for increasing the 7 years' reserv -
extracted from ST forum.
Why he and his wife never lost faith in NKF
I REFER to the article, 'NKF seeks $4m in subsidies to offset drop in donations' (ST, Dec
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Despite the trials and tribulations of the National Kidney Foundation (NKF), my wife and I never lost faith in the organisation.
Like other Singaporeans, we were perturbed by the lack of governance in the organisation. However, we felt that it was not proper to visit this on the NKF. It would have been akin to throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
NKF fulfils a vital need in Singapore's health-care system. With the population ageing, the work that the foundation does will be needed even more.
To those who feel that the NKF and its future is of little or no concern to them, it would be useful to be reminded of John Donne's poem:
'Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it might toll for thee'.
On our part, as in the past, my wife and I will send our 'widow's mite' to the NKF during this season of goodwill.
K. Kesavapany -
what about davinder singh, should he be sent to do his primary eduaction again since he cannot get his maths right? did he not say that the NKF reserves are good for another 20 years or more?
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Davinder Singh's maths is good. His 30 years is based on the subsidies the old NKF gave out. If you examine the figures disclosed carefully, NKF under gerald EE gave out larger subsidies and is spending more, so the fund can last for only 7 years.
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This is the problem with the NFK - a lack of good corporate governance. Now they seem to be mixed up about their figures. Even Mr. Gerald Ee is not being accountable as he seems to be trying to justify for Durai that Durai has been close in saying that the NKF $230 mil reserve would last for only 3 years.Originally posted by kilua:Davinder Singh maths is good. His 30 years is based on the subsidies the old NKF. If you examine the figures disclosed carefully, NKF under david EE gave out larger subsidies and is spending more, so the fund can last for 7 years.
Mr. Ee should have realized that the figure Mr. Davinder Singh used was attested in court by Durai himself about the estimated length the reserve would last and the fact that the $230 mil in fact would last more than 3 years was not challenged by Mr. Durai or the latter's lawyer.
If Gerald wants to say Mr. Davinder was wrong in his computation he would have to say that the judge or the court was wrong too and Mr. Durai was wrong in his reply to Mr. Davinder Singh in court on this point.
Mr. Ee should not after the case was over then make claim that Durai has been right in court in estimating the reserve of $230 mil would last only 3 years.
If NKF expenditure after the new management has taken over has gone up due to increased kidney treatment subsidies, then Gerald would be just using the wrong figures to justify for Mr. Durai. He should not further mislead the public. -
They can be as open and as transparent as they want - not a single cent is coming out of my pocket for them anymore.
I have always hated the NKF ever since my school days when I was forced to donate to them even though I hardly had any money for myself for food.
Once you lose the trust of people, you can hardly hope to gain it back. -
Is Durai and his gang not going to be charged for cheating?
They sure have strong connections
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I want to see them in court.Originally posted by SnowFlag:Is Durai and his gang not going to be charged for cheating?
They sure have strong connections 
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NKF is an example of elites claiming excellece soundly rejected by the people.
It is for our politicians to realise that this is not a case about charity or kidney patient treatments but rejection by people of arrogance, self-promotion etc.
The NKF Saga is a confirmation that People finally will judge the actions of leaders by their own assessments of requirements e.g. selflessness, dedication, integrity, heart, efficiency and ability.
A leader may claim to be the scholar and succeed in many areas but if he lacks the above-stated qualities, he will at the end by rejected by the people. -
extracted from ST forum
Be more realistic in assessing NKF reserves
UPON reading the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) report by interim chairman Gerard Ee, it appears that the sums do not add up.
It was stated that the present reserves of $206 million would last only 4.5 years in the worst-case scenario. There seems to be some calculation error.
The sum of $206 million, deposited in a bank account earning annual interest of 3.8 per cent, would garner $7,828,000. This plus the government subsidy of $4 million would give NKF an annual income of $11,828,000, without contributions from donations.
Presently NKF has 1,800 dialysis patients that it subsidises on average $70 per treatment. That subsidy would amount to $19,656,000 a year as each patient undergoes three sessions per week. That would leave a shortfall of $7,828,000 per year that has to come from NKF reserves. Dividing the reserves of $206 million by the shortfall of $7.8 million, it would take about 26 years for the reserves to run out.
It appears that the counsel for The Straits Times in its defence of the lawsuit filed by NKF was nearer to the truth when he said that the reserves would last 30 years.
The new NKF management has an obligation to present to the public, and especially to renal patients, a more realistic assessment of the situation. By singing the same T.T. Durai worst-case-scenario song with a new choir, it is unlikely to gain public confidence.
Although donations have dropped significantly from more than $2 million to $1.7 million a month, it is still a sizeable amount.
The $20.4 million in annual donations is more than enough to cover the $19,656,000 needed as subsidies for dialysis treatment for 1,800 patients without touching the reserves of $206 million, whose interest could cover inflation or expansion programmes.
I am a renal patient and have received dialysis treatment in Canada, China and Singapore.
In Canada, dialysis treatment is free for residents and citizens. The dialysis centres are remarkably clean, very spacious and well equipped. The medical staff are well trained and extremely friendly. Hot tea, coffee or water and biscuits are served to patients every hour, free of charge. All questions are answered in great detail and with patience.
In Guangzhou, China, the cost of dialysis for foreigners is a flat full fee of 400 yuan (S$83) per treatment. The Chinese dialysis centres are huge and surprisingly clean. They are well equipped with up-to-date imported dialysis machines, the same as those used in Singapore, if not better. Most of their medical staff are friendly and helpful.
In Singapore, the cost of dialysis for citizens at private centres ranges from $100 to $150 after subsidy. The centres are clean but patients have to provide their own blankets.
The medical staff are busy and have seemingly tight schedules and little time for explanations. Questions are often frowned upon and answers given are short and ambiguous. The typical answer is that, in Singapore, things are done differently. One cannot help but wonder why things are done differently when the dialysis machines and protocols are similar.
I have one simple request. Tell us how long the NKF reserves will last if a realistic and practical approach is adopted in managing it.
As renal patients, we accept the fact that our lives are shorter. Our lives need not be shortened further by unrealistic scenarios that would never happen. Please do away with the ambiguous language and ridiculous worst-case scenarios if public confidence is to be restored.
Cheong Wing Lee -
extracted from ST forum.
Does NKF need huge reserves if it invests wisely?
I READ with great interest the report on the National Kidney Foundation's (NKF) reserves. I applaud interim chairman Gerard Ee and his board for the hard work and civic-mindedness in volunteering to help sort out the NKF tangle.
Indeed the mere fact that the annual operating costs have been reduced from $73 million to $52 million without compromising the quality of care is a testimony to the efforts of the new board.
But I am puzzled about the reinvention of the wheel - creating huge reserves much like what the previous NKF administration claimed was a necessity for survival.
With a current client base of 1,800 patients and an operating cost of $52 million, this works out to $28,889 per patient per year for treatment with NKF. How much of this is direct patient-care cost and how much is pure infrastructure cost? With an increase of 300 patients every year, the added burden could be $8.7 million a year!
Secondly, given the fact that NKF has reserves of $206.2 million in usable funds, if they are invested wisely with a low expectation of 3 per cent returns and if only 70 per cent of the funds are invested ($144 million), this will give returns of $4.3 million.
This will significantly reduce the funding needs. Is this factored into the computation?
Perhaps, NKF should convert all its current investable reserves into an endowment and get a good fund manager to manage the money such that it gives good and steady long-term returns.
Thirdly, I think it is unwise to argue that to prepare for any adverse situation in the matter of donations, NKF should have 10 years' reserves. How many charities in Singapore can afford to have this kind of luxury?
Just imagine every charity in Singapore adopting the same mindset as NKF, then we will be a nation of hoarders rather than good stewards. Ho Yew Kee (Dr)