Kidneys should stay down there...

Channelnewsasia.com
It was a public scrutiny of how the NKF is administered and run, the travel patterns of its senior executives and the chief executive officer, and what salaries were paid to the CEO in the last three years.

The court heard that CEO Durai got a twelve month bonus last year. And between 2002 and 2004, he would have earned close to S$1.8 million.

From the outset, Senior Counsel Davinder Singh who is acting for SPH, emphasized the importance of transparency and public accountability on NKF's part as every cent which NKF spent came from public donations.


I feel strongly about the NKF. By consuming so much of the charity pie, NKF has inadvertently reduced the share of other charities. Right, NKF may be professionally run and so on, but by employing corporate tactics in the fight for obtaining a bigger share of funds, it has to pay enormous sums to attract the best brains in the business. In fact, the figure that T.T. Durai got would be enough for many other charities to survive on for at least a year. Hell, by the exemptions that most charitable organizations get, NKF is not even required to disclose its spendings. So much for 'being a corporation as well as a charity'.

The Singapore Cancer Society has recently seen the National KIDNEY Foundation intrude into its niche of fund raising, namely, that of cancer patients *duh*. Donor fatigue will inevitably set in, and even more so when it becomes clear that both charities are competing on the same grounds for donors' dollars. Why do so, I must say. Yes, the NKF has guaranteed its long-term existence. But does this mean that it has to do so at the expense of eliminating the means of survival for the numerous other charities? Indeed, the NKF has become the Microsoft of the charity world.

My discontent stems in part from their refusal to help my paternal grandma- "Sorry Auntie, your kids can support you liao!"
Their impassioned pleas for donations often stoke up my inner rage. "Who were we to choose whom to take off dialysis support?", they say. And who are YOU ALL to know what's with my family. To see my grandma waste away, with the family barely able to cope with the numerous bills that came along-with little support from kin. And so my Grandma died. And I'll never forget that.

The charity shows have indeed raised the level of social consciousness amongst the general public. However, Mediacorpse has limited its coverage to only that of the NKF itself. WHY SO? Why not introduce a rotation of the various notable charities in Singapore? Had MediaWorks not included Ren Ci Hospital, the NKF would be the only 'charity' that has such massive media attention. And does anyone remember the times when a charity show was singular? One off? Satu keping? This edition of the NKF CANCER show consists of 3 parts. Will there be a weekly event next up?



I just realised. There was another set of NKF shows back in April this year.