Old NKF and TT Durai - necessary evil or just evil
Before going on to make fun of more silly people and things (Brothers Grimm and silly Red Riding Hood, you are next!), I would just like to write about a topic while it is still fresh in everybody's mind. Years later when Captain Obvious becomes old and hard of hearing, at least this entry would remind me of the time I met T T Durai and the shortsightedness of my fellow Singaporeans.
I met T T Durai sometime in 1997 cos my dad required kidney dialysis. It was sort of a regulation back then that new NKF patients must be interviewed by the NKF CEO in order to determine the kind of financial support that he will get from NKF. Patients are advised to bring along his immediate family so as to show T T Durai the kind of support the said patient is receiving from the family. According to grapevine(true or not, I never did find out), a patient which could show up at the interview with a "loving family and hardworking children" will get the most rebates from NKF.
I recalled my bullshit detectors (although not as finely tuned compared to the present)ringing. How could a patient's rebates depend on how many family members you bring to the interview? And on what basis this CEO decides on financial rebates for poor taxi drivers like my dad? Some people might say "SO WHY DIDN'T YOU ASK?" Captain Obvious' response will simply be "It is not easy to ask when your father's life is at the mercy of a man, idiot".
Anyway, my excited father brought along everyone including my sister and her kids to Ayer Rajah (not too sure where now) Dialysis Centre for interview. He was confident that he will convince T T Durai. His son (me) is after a NUS student (It is a big deal in my family - although my longstanding position is that NUS blows and the less said about BEM/BRE or whatever shit they call the faculty now, the better).
When T T Durai first walked into the room, I never liked him. My first impulse was to stick out a leg and trip him. You know about those men which might be smiling but his eyes have all the warmth and colour of an iceberg? Yep, I was looking at one. He listened to my father went on and on for just a couple of minutes. He nodded a bit, smiled a little and then stamped and signed once on my father's file. Conclusion : no special help for my father. Same-o, same-0 with the rest of the new applicants.
So from that time on, I have been shouldering the bills of about S$1800 a month (minus medisave and some NKF rebates on medicine which I now discovered that it is overpriced in the first place anyway) and pay about S$800 a month. My dad was pretty devastated. I was not surprised though. I doubt the interview was anything other then to boost the man's ego.
People would therefore logically conclude that "YOU MUST REALLY HATE T T DURAI AND NKF RIGHT? ONLY 10 CENTS OUT OF A DOLLAR GO TO PATIENTS LIKE YOUR DAD."
Well, actually no.
Oh, don't get me wrong. If I see T T Durai, I will still definitely try to trip him. And perhaps deliver an elbow drop while he is down. But people right now are too emotional on the KPMG's statistics of "10 cents out of every dollar" and singing praises of the new NKF CEO. Some people are heralding the dawn of a new era, a slimmer and more transparent NKF and so on and so forth. As if the King has returned, and the forces of Mordor have been driven back to Mount Doom. Long live the Ringbearer! Bollocks.
Need I remind everybody that T T Durai manage to deliver an income of S$108 million last year. The combine revenue of other big five charities under MOH from SingHealth Endowment Fund to Bright Vision Hospital couldn't even come anywhere near NKF's figures. And on that note, what the hell is Bright Vision Hospital? Therein lies T T Durai's ability and vision. He is able to galvanise donors' support through creative measures such as utilising famous TCS stars and organised huge donation drives that is comparable to anything from the west. Those charity telethons from the US got NOTHING on TT Durai's NKF Drives. Every year I watch the donation drive on TV, I tell myself "This man might be a bastard, vain and arrogant like Shannon Doherty from Bevery Hills 90201, evil as my golf coach but he gets the god damn job done." What did KDF and Bright Vision Hospital do for their patients in terms of donation drives? Zilch. Zero. Nada. SPCA and others would love to get TT Durai as their boss. Instead they go around with dog-eared donation cards collecting 50 cents from people on the streets. I am glad my father is not under their version of shit management. I might even have to pay the full S$1800 a month! This might sounds outright machiavellian but if allowing certain members of NKF to profiteer would ensure my dad's life is saved, then so be it.
"BUT A SLIMMER AND TRANSPARENT NKF WOULD MAKE PEOPLE LIKE YOU PAY LESS FOR THEIR LOVED ONES' DIALYSIS EXPENSES!" Really, how would you know? You are just repeating things you read from textbooks and Straits Times. Some are already fellating the new NKF management (read ST's friday edition on how new HR director holds healing session for staff - ooh how nice and englightening). Don't count chickens before they are hatch and even then test them for bird flu, people. If you think carefully about it, yes, 10 cents out of every dollar might seem low. A slimmer and transparent NKF can perhaps utilise 50 cents out of every dollar. But what's the point if the new media shy NKF could only get 10% of previous pool of donors in post TT Durai's era? The absolute figure might even be lower. Sad to say, I think we would never see NKF posting a S$108 million annual revenue again. The new NKF might be fitter, transparent blah blah, but doesn't mean that it can actually do its primary duty - which is to help the patients and not perform healing sessions for its staff.
Not a popular entry. I would end off by saying Merry Xmas, TT Durai. You don't remember me but I sure remember you. Thanks for all the memories and everything. That said, sod off.
I met T T Durai sometime in 1997 cos my dad required kidney dialysis. It was sort of a regulation back then that new NKF patients must be interviewed by the NKF CEO in order to determine the kind of financial support that he will get from NKF. Patients are advised to bring along his immediate family so as to show T T Durai the kind of support the said patient is receiving from the family. According to grapevine(true or not, I never did find out), a patient which could show up at the interview with a "loving family and hardworking children" will get the most rebates from NKF.
I recalled my bullshit detectors (although not as finely tuned compared to the present)ringing. How could a patient's rebates depend on how many family members you bring to the interview? And on what basis this CEO decides on financial rebates for poor taxi drivers like my dad? Some people might say "SO WHY DIDN'T YOU ASK?" Captain Obvious' response will simply be "It is not easy to ask when your father's life is at the mercy of a man, idiot".
Anyway, my excited father brought along everyone including my sister and her kids to Ayer Rajah (not too sure where now) Dialysis Centre for interview. He was confident that he will convince T T Durai. His son (me) is after a NUS student (It is a big deal in my family - although my longstanding position is that NUS blows and the less said about BEM/BRE or whatever shit they call the faculty now, the better).
When T T Durai first walked into the room, I never liked him. My first impulse was to stick out a leg and trip him. You know about those men which might be smiling but his eyes have all the warmth and colour of an iceberg? Yep, I was looking at one. He listened to my father went on and on for just a couple of minutes. He nodded a bit, smiled a little and then stamped and signed once on my father's file. Conclusion : no special help for my father. Same-o, same-0 with the rest of the new applicants.
So from that time on, I have been shouldering the bills of about S$1800 a month (minus medisave and some NKF rebates on medicine which I now discovered that it is overpriced in the first place anyway) and pay about S$800 a month. My dad was pretty devastated. I was not surprised though. I doubt the interview was anything other then to boost the man's ego.
People would therefore logically conclude that "YOU MUST REALLY HATE T T DURAI AND NKF RIGHT? ONLY 10 CENTS OUT OF A DOLLAR GO TO PATIENTS LIKE YOUR DAD."
Well, actually no.
Oh, don't get me wrong. If I see T T Durai, I will still definitely try to trip him. And perhaps deliver an elbow drop while he is down. But people right now are too emotional on the KPMG's statistics of "10 cents out of every dollar" and singing praises of the new NKF CEO. Some people are heralding the dawn of a new era, a slimmer and more transparent NKF and so on and so forth. As if the King has returned, and the forces of Mordor have been driven back to Mount Doom. Long live the Ringbearer! Bollocks.
Need I remind everybody that T T Durai manage to deliver an income of S$108 million last year. The combine revenue of other big five charities under MOH from SingHealth Endowment Fund to Bright Vision Hospital couldn't even come anywhere near NKF's figures. And on that note, what the hell is Bright Vision Hospital? Therein lies T T Durai's ability and vision. He is able to galvanise donors' support through creative measures such as utilising famous TCS stars and organised huge donation drives that is comparable to anything from the west. Those charity telethons from the US got NOTHING on TT Durai's NKF Drives. Every year I watch the donation drive on TV, I tell myself "This man might be a bastard, vain and arrogant like Shannon Doherty from Bevery Hills 90201, evil as my golf coach but he gets the god damn job done." What did KDF and Bright Vision Hospital do for their patients in terms of donation drives? Zilch. Zero. Nada. SPCA and others would love to get TT Durai as their boss. Instead they go around with dog-eared donation cards collecting 50 cents from people on the streets. I am glad my father is not under their version of shit management. I might even have to pay the full S$1800 a month! This might sounds outright machiavellian but if allowing certain members of NKF to profiteer would ensure my dad's life is saved, then so be it.
"BUT A SLIMMER AND TRANSPARENT NKF WOULD MAKE PEOPLE LIKE YOU PAY LESS FOR THEIR LOVED ONES' DIALYSIS EXPENSES!" Really, how would you know? You are just repeating things you read from textbooks and Straits Times. Some are already fellating the new NKF management (read ST's friday edition on how new HR director holds healing session for staff - ooh how nice and englightening). Don't count chickens before they are hatch and even then test them for bird flu, people. If you think carefully about it, yes, 10 cents out of every dollar might seem low. A slimmer and transparent NKF can perhaps utilise 50 cents out of every dollar. But what's the point if the new media shy NKF could only get 10% of previous pool of donors in post TT Durai's era? The absolute figure might even be lower. Sad to say, I think we would never see NKF posting a S$108 million annual revenue again. The new NKF might be fitter, transparent blah blah, but doesn't mean that it can actually do its primary duty - which is to help the patients and not perform healing sessions for its staff.
Not a popular entry. I would end off by saying Merry Xmas, TT Durai. You don't remember me but I sure remember you. Thanks for all the memories and everything. That said, sod off.
posted by Captain Obvious at 10:18 PM
1 Comments:
Heh.... that is an interesting perspective.
He may have gotten his job done well but managing public funds required more accountability on his end. Unfortunately, he failed to do so.
From a donor point of view, sure didn't feel good to know that donations went to fund his lavish spending...
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