Lim Hng Kiang - How blur Singaporeans can be?

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

I was quite surprised to learn that people have little idea about Lim Hng Kiang. Honestly how can you live in a country and not know what a long standing has been doing or not doing. He is arguably one of the worst performing ministers since we became independent for the second time. He is closest to the PM and the family.

He was removed as Minister of Health in Aug 2003 within a week of SARs ending as he struggled to handle the crisis and others had to step in.

Just see what how he handled the NKF matter when it was raised by a number of MPs in Parliament. He had no clue and he fully endorsed it. He was not even aware that his Ministry Deputy Secretary refused to sit on the NKF's oversight committee as NKF refused to cooperate. Read his answer carefully. Everything turned out to be untrue. Including that 80% of donations went to beneficiaries when in fact less than 10% actually went to beneficiaries. 15 months later the whole thing blew up spectacularly.

So how come a cabinet minister can furnish complete bullshit in Parliament to his PAP colleagues and an NMP with total confidence and still remain a cabinet minister 10 years later. And this is the guy that we found in Singapore to be Deputy Chairman of MAS and Board Director of GIC - 2 of the 3 investment bodies of this country. The same guy who thought that 80% were going to beneficiaries when less than 10% was - a gap of 70%.


"Mr Charles Chong (Pasir Ris-Punggol): 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 Hng Kiang: Mr Speaker, Sir, the NKF is in full compliance with the regulations."


"Mr Lim Hng Kiang:Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have gone through this debate a couple of times, once in the Committee of Supply and, also, this afternoon during the Questions for Oral Answer. In responding to the Member, I would just like to clarify a few points.

First, on the press release put up by NKF. I am not aware of the details. I think they 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 vast bulk of the money goes to the beneficiaries, both immediately as well as in the reserves.

Secondly, on the operation cost of running a dialysis centre. From my experience in the Ministry of Health, I can tell you that running a dialysis centre is very, very expensive. The NKF looks after more than 2,500 patients and the average cost is more than $25,000 or $30,000 per patient. That is the reason why the NKF requires a budget of $50 million to $60 million. These are not small sums to run the centres.

As I mentioned this afternoon, when NKF takes on a patient, it is committed to the patient for life. I have met patients, both locally and overseas, who have been on dialysis for more than 20 years. The medical record of NKF is extremely good, better than world standards. So, the patients that go to NKF are actually treated to very high medical standards and therefore they live much longer. That is the reason why they need more funds. And there is nothing wrong in putting these funds in the reserves because they are committed to the patients for their lifetime.

On the point about cost and salaries of CEOs, 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."


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