SingHealth gets $135m donation from Khoo Teck Puat estate to fund healthcare growth

SINGAPORE – SingHealth has received $135 million from the estate of Khoo Teck Puat – the largest gift the public healthcare cluster has received to date, and the biggest single contribution made to a public healthcare institution in Singapore.

The money will go towards advancing medical research, looking into new ways of delivering personalised healthcare in the community, adopting new technologies to improve diagnostic accuracy, and attracting and retaining healthcare personnel, said SingHealth group chief executive Ng Wai Hoe.

The areas of research will include population health, maternal and child health, cardiovascular sciences and cancer.

Ms Mavis Khoo, trustee of the Estate of Khoo Teck Puat, said the gift reflects a deep belief in the potential of medical research, innovation and education to transform lives.

“My late father would have turned 109 years old today,” she said on Jan 13 at the gift recognition ceremony at Outram Community Hospital.

“This gift is our way of honouring his legacy by supporting advancements in healthcare, which was a cause close to his heart, and enabling access to exceptional healthcare for future generations of Singaporeans.”

Speaking to reporters after the event, Professor Ng said: “It is really important that there are private donors who believe in the cause, and have passion for certain areas in research and healthcare.

“(It is also important) that they choose to invest in the cause to give it the extra boost beyond what we can normally compete for, and unlock the potential of medicine to change lives.”

He said that with the added resources, the group will be able to “scale new heights and mature our research programmes that will elevate SingHealth’s standing as a world-class academic medical centre and healthcare group”.

One area the donation will allow SingHealth to research is population health, with the aim being to better differentiate high-risk groups and enable targeted interventions for preventive care in a fast-ageing society.

Professor Lee Chien Earn, deputy group CEO of the regional health system at SingHealth, said: “We have created living laboratories where we try to marry the science with the service delivery. This way, we can translate it to meaningful actions for our population.”

Prof Lee said working within the community does not mean addressing only its medical needs but also the wider social needs, “allowing us to take a more holistic approach towards our residents. This way, we are able to boost real-world data, allowing us to put in place more effective measures”.

Part of the $135 million will go into researching plant-based remedies and establishing Singapore as a global leader in plant-based therapeutic discovery.

This is done by laying the groundwork for conservation through systematically capturing the genomic blueprints of plant species in Singapore and the region.

“There are many plants in this region that have not been properly studied. This poses an opportunity for us as scientists here,” said Professor Teh Bin Tean, director of the SingHealth Duke-NUS Institute of Biodiversity Medicine.

“The donation will allow us to study the plants in Singapore and the region in greater detail – from genomics to proteomics (the study of all proteins in a cell or organism).”

Prof Teh revealed that his team had completed sequencing the genome of the laksa leaf, which he referred to as a culinary gem of Singapore.

“We are now extracting the chemicals from the laksa leaf, and we are going to study the profile and the properties from the health point of view,” he said.

Other local plants his team is looking at include the durian, famously known as the “king of fruit” in South-east Asia.

“A lot of its nutritional profile is still not known,” Prof Teh said.

President Tharman Shanmugaratnam was the guest of honour at the ceremony to commemorate the naming of the block that houses Outram Community Hospital as the Khoo Teck Puat Centre for Population Health, which will be the centre of future efforts to improve the health of the population.

At the event, the President unveiled a bust of the late Mr Khoo Teck Puat.

Mr Khoo was a prominent Singaporean banker, hotelier and philanthropist.

Once Singapore’s richest man, he was known for his significant investments, particularly in Standard Chartered Bank, and for founding the Goodwood Group of Hotels.

In 1981, he set up the Khoo Foundation charity fund with an initial $20 million. The foundation donated $125 million towards the construction and operation of Alexandra Hospital @ Yishun, which was renamed Khoo Teck Puat Hospital in 2007. Mr Khoo died in 2004 at the age of 87.

Minister for Health Ong Ye Kung, who is also Coordinating Minister for Social Policies, attended the event as a special guest.