Posted by "robertteh"
Get a different entrepreneur with private sector background with
exposure to value-adding services, the same job will be better
performed and costs can be further reduced.
In the first place, there is something basically not right in going
for glory in running a charity organization like incurring high
costs on CEOs and putting up a grand building. Because of these two
high-cost factors alone, no matter how NKF tries to do it will be
held back by high costs.
Per patient costs now as compared with similar treatment in
Malaysia seems too high. It will be necessary to lease out the
expensive premises and operate from inexpensive ones to use the
rentals wisely and get funds flowing again for NKF and really lower
the per patient treatment costs which should be the primary
objective of NKF.
REPLY BY: "Pitomnik"The guys running NKF were from the private
sector... the foundation did accumulate reserves, and that's
something most other charities can't claim to have done. If you're
comparing just how long charities would last (i.e., financial
stability), then NKF would win outright. But the issue here is how
to strike a balance between helping more people, and having enough
reserves to stay stable for the long term so that the patients it
helps will never need to worry about the day the foundation will go
broke.
I agree cost containmet is important. That is why I am all for
pegging charity sector pay to civil service pay, maybe slightly
less. But if there are excellent talents that can help bring
charities to a higher level of excellence, but cost more, I'd say
pay them. It's difficult enough to find talent to want to work in
the Not-for-profit sector, let alone keep them. Unless you guys
want te NPO sector to be saddled with the reputation of one that
hires only the left-overs after the public and private sectors have
gotten their share of talents...
I think NKF's cost isn't due to its premises... from what I
understand, they're in housing estates, renting from the Town
Councils and HDB. Can't beat that... unless someone donates a new
dialysis centre, or waives rental. Comparing with M'sia is a
hopeless cause... we all know over the causeway, healthcare IS
always cheaper. Just that, for dialysis patients, they can't keep
crossing over every other day for treatment, and really, what is
the alternative other than to have dialysis operations in
Singapore?
The NKF saga, and the state of the charity sector at large, is not
a simple issue to resolve. With greying population, and increased
health care costs, building a civic society will take time. And all
of us will have to contribute positively to the process of building
a Not-for-profit sector that is effective, efficient, responsible,
accountable, and genuinely proud to proclaim that it has served the
nation.
REPLY BY ROBERTTEH:
"If cost of treatment is so high and reserve is so big, neither the
patients nor the public will be happy.
The way forward is not to keep justifying the past and comparing
with the worse case scenario to stay in the denial mode. Real
entrepreneurs do not keep giving such if-and-but and not so easy
excuses.
It is time to do some think-out-the-box solutions. Even if these
solutions at first sight might encourter some practical problems,
it will be worth it to try as our patient paying component is
really too high compared with reserve.
May be Durai has listened to this kind of excuses and pro-high cost
and pro-high reserve policies so he had good reason too not to try
harder.
If new CEO is appointed, public will want some new solutions not to
be constrained by old policies that were overturned by the SPH
open-court expose."
