The NKF Saga.. again (General affairs)

Now that the auditors have finally came to a conclusion on what is going on in the now-defunct association called the NKF (it is now currently called the New NKF), it is ghastly horrific to know how much money changed in the wrong hands. Read the newspapers for figures.

Before the NKF saga, the people at NKF were regarded as good samaritans, workers of charity. People put trust in them, even more so with kidney patients, who entrusted their savings to them in exchange for dialysis services. All this for no profit. Or so we thought.

I do not slam the NKF's ground workers - any visit to any NKF dialysis center would show that the nurses and volunteers there are indeed giving their all to help the patients there recover and get on with their lives, despite the gruelling and painful daily dialysis routine they have to endure. As what top NKF management had said, in their many shows, during the many advertisements about their patients and clinics in order to tug at our heartstrings and pursestrings.

But what they did not reveal was the cheating and underhand schemes that were going on. And that top brass lived a lap of luxury while still asking the public to donate and the patients to pay for their live of luxury. This is not acceptable.

I myself am a patient of a chronic disease, and i understand how it is to receive medical treatment daily. The constant worry that, "without the medication or treatment, something will happen to me" is under fire daily, at any moment. More even for the poor patients - my grandfather is one of them - whom most are often in the middle-age or older age group - who dare not protest against any thing for fear of being singled out and just quietly accept the inflated charges, just to live. It would be cruel to take advantage of such a patient - let alone thousands of them.

Now the public is wary about anything of the NKF. Volunteers helping out to solicit for donations will probably return with near-empty tins, despite one full day of sweat and toil in bright sunny afternoons. Ultimately the 1800-strong patients who are on the receiving end of the money will suffer due to insufficient funding. Everyone is now so cautious and wary of all the volunteers, who have nothing but pure hearts - for they do this for no monetary reward - that the charity scene in Singapore may become "paranoid" and "volunteers are treated as potential crooks", according to Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan.

This is extremely sad, as there are and there will still be people who are in need of help, such as kidney patients. Kidney failure ranks among the few most common killers in Singapore (I think). Volunteers must be present, first to help and secondly, to spread the word and assure that there is always care and concern around for people around you. I think that would be the right way to live and that i would not think of declaring as my country a place where everyone suspects each other of cheating each other.

Yet this is the present truth and situation, what i think the current Ministry of Health should do is to restore faith in the volunteers and NKF, make sure the NKF management doesn't screw up again, and hope the NKF or whatever can be restored to its former glory of providing patients with the utmost care.

Oh, and jail that fella Durai. For very long.