NKF-that can of worms has already been opened!

last SG · 2005-07-12T23:24:59+00:00

Tuesday August 8, 12:17 PM Four third party defendants downplay individual roles in NKF The blame game continues in the S$12 million National Kidney Founda...

charlize SG

People forget and moved on already.

Really. Laughing

dragg SG

myself too. but i wont donate a single cent.

Mad

Medicated Oil SG

Their reserves is not "sufficient" enough.

They say they wun do it on TV.

But, they never say anyting about RADIO and PRESS.

So, prepare for MORE COVERAGE of CHARITY MONEY REQUEST on the newspaper.

av98m SG

Have they resumed forcing donation cards onto hapless students and their parents? Rolling Eyes

Fatum SG

it wouldn't matter now ...

i doubt any school would dare squeeze the students' balls too hard to make them meet a certain quota now ...

dragg SG

nkf says dialysis charges will drop by another 10%, from $2.6k per month to $2.1k per month.

damn expensive sia.

charlize SG

Election coming.

Have to show something is being done about the cost mah. Laughing

lotus999 SG

An entry in singabloodypore.blogspot.com shows that the cover-up of the NKF wrongdoings is even worst than the wrongdoings themselves:

I highlight these statements made by the Ministers not to show how silly they now in retrospect because Mr Khaw Boon Wan has admitted as much. Words like duped, misled, naïve, and oversight were used liberally in the aftermath of the KPMG exposē.

Parliamentary statements in 2004, however, indicate otherwise.

For example, in Parliament on 19 April 2004, NMP Braema Mathi had raised the concern of NKFs computation of the amount of donated money going to the beneficiary. Second Minister for Finance Lim Hng Kiang brushed off the matter and concluded that NKF was on quite a sound record. The following was the exchange:

Braema Mathi: NKF, in the public domain, has made two announcements of 52 cents coming back to the beneficiary, as well as 56 centsWhat I am raising here with this incident is that different definitions do go into making up what comes back to the beneficiary in terms of a precise dollar value. There needs to be greater consistency in the factors that go into such computation.

Lim Hng Kiang: [NKF] put up the press release and explained the differences between 52% and 56% go to the beneficiaries. I recall also that they indicated in the press release that about 26% goes to the reserves. So, actually, if you add up the two numbers, nearly 80% goes to the beneficiaries. I think that puts NKF on quite a sound record.

The NMP also brought up the question of transparency and suggested that NKF reveal the salary of its CEO. Mr Lim left it to the NKF to decide whether it wanted to tell the public (remember, this was in spite of the misgivings many quarters had over NKF). He said:

this is a decision by NKF whether to disclose the salaries of the CEOs. Here, I have some sympathy for their dilemma. If they do not disclose, then there will be critics who say they are not transparent. If they disclose, there will also be critics who will say that whatever they pay are too high. So I think they are caught between a rock and a hard place. I think it is their decision not to disclose.

If there was ever any doubt that concern was brought to the direct attention of the Government, it was removed by this statement from Ms Braema Mathi: NKF's reserves[are] in dire need of better governance.

To put the publics unease over the NKFs compliance with regulations, Mr Lim Hng Kiang told Parliament in 2004:

Lim: Mr Speaker, Sir, it is important to have clear guidelines on the raising and utilisation of funds to maintain public confidence in our non-profit organisations and their programmes. There are essentially three questions the public is most interested in. First, what methods are used to raise the money? Second, how much of the charity dollar is used to raise funds? And, finally, how is the money spent or saved?

Of the three questions, the third is the most relevant to the issue today: Was NKF in compliance with regulations over how the money spent or saved?

PAP MP Charles Chong asked Minister Lim point-blank: Sir, could the Minister tell us whether the National Kidney Foundation is in full compliance with all the current guidelines that he mentioned just now in the collection and utilisation of the funds that it receives from the public?

Mr Lim did not mince words: Mr Speaker, Sir, the NKF is in full compliance with the regulations. (emphasis added)

From the above parliamentary exchanges, it can be seen that the Government was alerted to questionable practices in the NKF. Not only did Mr Lim ignore these warnings he categorically told Parliament that he had full confidence that NKF had complied with regulations.

Then there was the matter of the National Council of Social Services (NCSS). On Dec 31, 2001, the NCSS revoked the IPC status of NKF. The NCSS took action because it saw the problems within the NKF. And yet, within a month the Ministry of Health reinstated the NKFs IPC status.

Now read what Mr Lim told Parliament in 2004: [The Ministry of Finance] has certain criteria by which [it] evaluates applicants who want IPC status, and these criteria are set by IRAS, and we make sure that people who apply have to qualify before they are given this IPC status. (emphasis added)

In other words we are given to believe that there was an active search for answers from the NKF before NKF was given clearance to reclaim its IPC status.

Before we go further, lets do a quick recap. There were several occasions in which NKFs operations were questioned:

· Criticisms by NKF volunteers which led to Durai taking defamations suits against them in 1997 and 1998.

· Letters to the press from 2002-2004 questioning NKFs practices.

· NCSS revoking NKFs bid for IPC status.

· Statements in parliament pointing to problematic operations in NKF.

With all these warning signs, can the Government claim that it was misled and that it was an oversight that allowed the abuses to continue for years?

What is especially noteworthy is that the Government not only ignored these warnings, it actually overruled the NCSS. This indicates that the Government felt that the concerns of NCSS were misplaced. Remember that Mr Lim had told Parliament that the MOF makes sure that applicants for IPC status the criteria that it sets before approval is given. How can the Government say that it makes sure and gives the assurance that the NKF was in full compliance with the guidelines, but then later claim to have been misled?

..........

There are several urgent questions that need to be asked:

1. Why did Lim not make greater effort to look into the matter of how the expenditure was computer when it was pointed out to him that there were discrepancies? Even if the audited reports did not raise any alarm, there were plenty of other sources that had, repeatedly through many years, drawn the attention of the Minister to the problems. Why were these ignored?

2. Not only were warnings ignored, the Government actually overruled NCSS decision to rein in the NKF. Did the Government seek the feedback of NCSS and find out why it had revoked NKFs IPC status? If it did, what did the NCSS tell the Government? If not, why not?

3. What questions were asked of NKF before the IRAS reinstated the NKF its IPC status?

4. Why is the MOF keeping so quiet?

The scary part is that if TT Durai had not sued, NKF would have gone on merrily doing what it did.

Clearly there was no transparency. The mystery over what happened when the Government overruled the NCSS and reinstated NKFs IPC status remains. The Government said it was all right for NKF not to reveal Durais despite mounting evidence that there was abuse.

dragg SG

the health minister is suggesting that people go for transplants instead of dialysis.

a lot of spare kidneys lying around?

Shocked Shocked Shocked

LittleTiger SG

People pay them(ministers) millions for salary and they play tai ji around.....

waste taxpayer money (hk ppl always like to say this)

I felt that it getting more and more inefficient compare to last time 10 yrs back where spore is well known for cleanliness and efficient.

LazerLordz SG

Things are unravelling because of a lack of common sense in many quarters.

Lowclassman SG

Those are our millionairs ministers ways of doing things...Thinking they are big fark.... Mr. Green

robertteh SG

If minister refused to accept the action of NCSS and reinstated the IPC status of NKF in 2001, he had probably over-trusted NKF or was duped or told untruths to parliament.

What power has the speaker of the house to censor ministers for telling of untruths?

Could ministers who have had this kind of records of telling untruths be placed position of responsibility like trade and creating jobs for citizens if he cannot tell the difference between lies, untruths and truths in dealing with juniors like the NKF?

robertteh SG

Portable Kidney Dialysis Machine - is this coming soon ?
(Source : Oregon State University 05-02-2005)

Portable Kidney Dialysis Machine Developed

CORVALLIS A Portland company is using an emerging microtechnology from Oregon State University to develop a portable kidney dialysis machine that will make in-home treatment a reality, enabling hundreds of thousands of people afflicted with kidney failure to treat themselves at home instead of traveling to dialysis clinics three days a week.

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"Current dialysis machines are based on 30-year-old technology and employ filter systems that are only about 28 percent efficient," said Michael Baker, chief executive officer of Home Dialysis Plus, the firm developing the device.

"By employing the microtechnology being developed at OSU's College of Engineering, the filter efficiency skyrockets to about 90 percent," Baker said. "And we're able to reduce the dimensions of a dialysis machine from the size of a refrigerator to the size of a piece of carry-on luggage, which makes treatment portable."

Baker said that more than 600 jobs could be associated with the device when production begins.

OSU researchers and Home Dialysis Plus officials say the reduced size and increased efficiency will improve the lives of dialysis patients because treatments will be done in the home while patients are asleep at night. Many dialysis patients now have to limit travel and other opportunities due to time-consuming treatments that can take up to four hours.

"A growing number of studies indicate that longer and/or more frequent in-home dialysis offers not only superior therapy, but also the opportunity to reduce costs," Baker said. "These revelations are prompting more and more dialysis patients to demand the health benefits, the convenience, and the quality of life that in-home dialysis has to offer. We launched Home Dialysis Plus to give dialysis patients the life-improving technology they've been asking for."

Home Dialysis Plus was founded by Altman Browning and Company, a Portland product development firm that has been working closely with researchers at the OSU College of Engineering to develop the new microtechnology for use in the dialysis application. Researchers say the technology, known as multiscale materials and devices, or MMD, could eventually enable development of a wearable dialysis device, or even an implantable version.

"MMD technology is allowing us to reduce a filter that is more than eight inches tall by three inches in diameter to the size of about four sugar cubes," Baker said. "As this technology develops, the possibility of an implantable dialysis device becomes very real."

Jim Curtis, a certified hemodialysis technologist, works as area manager for Fresenius Medical Care North America, a company that operates 11 dialysis clinics throughout Oregon. He said that "MMD technology has the potential to revolutionize the artificial kidney because it enables such good surface area in such a small space. Many studies show that patients are better off dialyzing less rapidly, but over a longer period of time."

Citing a recent Canadian study that compared patients who underwent traditional dialysis treatments (three times a week for approximately four hours) to patients who underwent nocturnal dialysis (eight hours of dialysis nightly), Curtis said recovery time following treatment was reduced from approximately six hours to about seven minutes.

"Nocturnal dialysis gives patients more time in their lives because they spend this time sleeping anyway," Curtis said. "And they don't have to spend hours every week feeling washed out or nauseous before and after treatments."

The leading causes of kidney failure are diabetes and hypertension, Curtis said. By 2011 the number of people suffering kidney failure is expected to be 600,000 in the U.S. alone.

In addition to being a fraction of the size of current dialysis machines, the Home Dialysis Plus device will operate much more quietly and is designed to not look like a typical piece of medical equipment, but to blend into a home environment, Baker said.

During the 1960s, Dr. Richard Drake developed the Drake Willock dialysis machine, which rapidly became the best selling dialysis system in the world. Drake's Portland-based company, DWS, Inc., employed 250 employees before it was sold in the 1970s. Drake, now retired, says the use of MMD technology in the Home Dialysis Plus filter is an important advance.

"That is a major breakthrough, because filters have always been a problem," he said. "Reducing the size and increasing the efficiency is very important."

Although other companies, like Hewlett-Packard, are partnering with OSU researchers to employ MMD technology in new devices, Altman Browning is the first company on the brink of commercializing a viable product.

"This is an exciting example of how the MMD technology we're developing here at Oregon State University, in partnership with other Oregon universities and businesses, will dramatically improve lives," said Ron Adams, dean of engineering at OSU. "It also illustrates how this technology can lead to new companies and new jobs here in Oregon and beyond."

Researchers at OSU are partnering with researchers at the University of Oregon, Portland State University, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and other institutions to develop MMD technology, which U.S. Senator Ron Wyden has predicted will be an "economic sparkplug" for the Pacific Northwest.

"MMD technology has the potential to spawn an entire industry, one that could rival the microelectronics boom of the 1950s and 60s," Adams said. "The Home Dialysis Plus product is just the tip of a very large iceberg."

MMD technology includes the use of microchannels, which enable high rates of heat and mass transfer and are the reason for the high rates of efficiency in the Home Dialysis Plus filter.

OSU researchers are also developing an MMD technology-based portable cooling system for the U.S. military that will be used by soldiers, firefighters, and emergency personnel working in hot or hazardous conditions.

robertteh SG

(posted to Feedback Unit on 20.1.2006)

In 2001, NSCC realized something was wrong and revoked the IPC status of NKF.

In reply to specific queries by NMP Braem Mathi, Minister Lim Hng Kiang protected NKF by saying that NKF was law compliant and he had reinstated the IPC status of NKF.

So can Minister Khaw Boon Wan now say that the minister was misled or duped with some open parliamentary protection of NKF by the then minister in charge.

Why doesn't he just admit that the government has been wrong in protecting NKF as part of government's own policy to keep high reserve and failing to realize the needs of patients and has forgotten to check on various wrong doings e.g. golden taps, first-class air ticket, business dealing of NKFwith its own board directors etc ...

It is ridiculous for SM Goh Chok Tong to claim that the government has not done wrong and would defend opposition's criticism on NKF wrongs in the coming election.

Such a statement (on TV tonight 20.1.2006) reflects badly on his wife's peanut remark in this incident showing that his earlier admission of wife's error was not being sincere.

charlize SG

Latest news. Laughing

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/190105/1/.html

iveco SG

Durai and Richard called up by CPIB? The plot thickens. Surprised

robertteh SG

It may be just a wayang kulit done for show for CPIB or CAD to investigate Durai's wrongs disclosed so far.

If white elephant placards and T-shirts cannot be tolerated, what will be the problem with charging him? He would have been charged sometime ago.

From the daily news, ministers seem to be giving inkling and dropping hints that Durai might not have committed any legal wrongs despite all his excesses with golden taps, 8 months' bonuses from the charity monies, his concealments about traveling first class with charity donation monies until his own forced admissions in the NKF/SPH lawsuit..

Even if he had done some wrongs in his preemptive defamation suits against the 2 volunteers, or condoned or approved business dealings with some directors or ex-directors of NKF, yet Durai might claim he had not done any legal wrong. Ministers did not try to push for his prosecutions but did say certain things in his favor.

Another reason why CPIB might not charge him with criminal offences: If he is charged for criminal offences it may send an unfaorable signal to the population that government itself like NKF was practising what Durai as seen to be doing.

Government itself was feet-dragging when it comes to has responding to citizens' complaints against complaints about lack of accountability and transparency, in HDB flat pricing, resale levies, double-charging or double-taxing on lands and services, over-extending its own high reserves, over-paying themselves million-dollar salaries and unheard of 8 months' bonuses etc.

Will those who are in charge not shiver if Durai decided in court to contest the charges on the ground that patron Mrs. Goh has approved his salaries or even the bonuses.

Where will the GIC or Temasek stand if GIC and Temasek are singled out as companies that practise what NKF has been practising suing people for criticism or non-disclosed 1st class travelling and extravagant spendings of public monies and interests in contracts or non-compliance with regulations.

solarbody11 SG

What will be his fate?
1) Jailed?
2) Fined?
3) Or go free?

Unidentified SG

Tough Question
Can i choose 50-50 ? Mr. Green

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