The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) will have a new chief executive from next month.

Mr Edmund Kwok, its current Chief Operating Officer, will step up to take over the position from Ms Eunice Tay who has led the organisation from 2006.

In a press conference announcing the leadership change on Friday. Mr Kwok, 55, said his plans for the charity include developing more preventive programmes to bring down the number of kidney failure cases in the community. The number of such patients has been steadily rising at about 4 per cent every year.

The leadership change comes at a time when the charity is ready to step out of the shadow of its 2005 scandal, which exposed lapses in its corporate governance, and return to active fund raising.

Ms Tay has been largely credited for rebuilding public confidence in the charity by tightening governance, reducing operating costs and improving transparency. Under her watch, NKF started four new dialysis centres and doubled the number of patients who are able to undergo dialysis treatment in the comfort of their homes.