 Print Article
|
The amount patients owe the NKF in unpaid fees has more than doubled in the two years since early July 2005, when an uproar over its then chief executive T.T. Durai's pay and perks landed the charity firmly in the public spotlight.
Mr Durai's $600,000 annual pay was revealed in court on July 11 that year.
The proportion of defaulters has also climbed - from 13 per cent of all patients in 2005 to about 20 per cent now.
The NKF's finance department said that 235 patients owed the charity about $870,000 at the end of June 2005.
But the unpaid fees now stand at $1.85 million, chalked up by 393 patients. The largest debt owed by one person stands at $29,000.
The foundation's chief executive officer, Mrs Eunice Tay, told The Straits Times there are three possible reasons for the increase in defaulters.
First, many patients stopped paying in the immediate aftermath of the scandal - possibly due to cynicism.
Yet others could have fallen on hard times.
Finally, better 'tracking' of arrears through a new IT system could also have pushed up the numbers, she said.
Previously, finance department officials were alerted to patient arrears only when the amount crossed $1,000.
For a patient who pays only $100 a month as a subsidised fee, it could take 10 months for his non-payment to be even noticed.
Said Mrs Tay: 'By then, the patient would be deep in a cycle of debt.'
The new IT system, in use since early this year, alerts finance department officers the moment a patient has any arrears.
Social workers then contact the patient to see why he has been unable to pay and whether the subsidy level needs to be re-evaluated.
A patient may not be able to pay if 'the main breadwinner has lost his job, or if there is a sudden illness in the family', said Mrs Tay.
Since April, the charity has renewed efforts to get defaulters to pay their dues in instalments.
NKF officers have been tracking down defaulters individually to persuade them to go on the instalment scheme. About 75 have signed on so far.
Those who can pay, but have withheld payment, are being dealt with firmly.
The foundation is giving them three reminders spread over six months. If they still refuse to pay, they will have to seek dialysis elsewhere.
'We cannot afford to let these people squander public money and rob the poor of their rightful subsidies,' said Mrs Tay.
The number of such recalcitrant patients - which comprised one in three defaulters in late 2005 - has been falling.
The rate at which debts are piling up has also slowed considerably, said Mrs Tay.
Meanwhile, the NKF is helping the genuinely needy find jobs. About a dozen needy patients have been given temporary jobs at the NKF scanning documents to set up a digital archive.
Among them is Madam Lim Chuan Oh, 55, who owes the foundation more than $1,000 in unpaid fees.
Since her factory worker husband quit his job due to ill health, she has been looking for a job.
'No one likes being in debt,' she said. 'At least the NKF is giving me the chance to work and pay off what I owe them.'
NEEDY COME FIRST
'We cannot afford to let these people squander public money and rob the poor of their rightful subsidies.'
NKF CEO EUNICE TAY, who said recalcitrant debtors will be dealt with firmly
