Tree of Hope: Campaign to raise funds for those with rare diseases

SINGAPORE – People with rare diseases often need expensive medicines to lead normal lives.

To help them, the Rare Disease Fund (RDF) has brought back its Tree of Hope fund-raiser for the second year. With the theme of “Wizard of Oz”, the 2024 campaign aims to “light up the Tree of Hope in the Land of Hope”.

The RDF is managed by the KKH Health Fund, which is part of the SingHealth Fund and is supported by the Ministry of Health.

From now till Dec 25, the public can support the Tree of Hope by donating at

www.giving.sg/rare-disease-fund

. Every dollar donated by the public will be matched with $3 by the Government.

Donors get a tax deduction of 2.5 times the donated amount.

About 3,000 people in Singapore have been diagnosed with rare diseases such as bile acid synthesis disorder, Gaucher disease and Pompe disease, and around 700 of them are children. Most cases are diagnosed in childhood and require lifelong medication.

Eleven Singaporeans – or about 0.37 per cent of the 3,000 patients – have received help from the RDF since it was started in 2019.

Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said in March that

most patients with rare diseases are able to get financial help

from schemes such as MediSave and MediShield Life, and subsidies. He said in a parliamentary response that those who struggle to pay their bills can also apply for MediFund through the public health institutions.

Only a small percentage of patients may need additional financial assistance, and the RDF was set up to support high-cost medication for this group, he added.

“Given the limited size of the RDF, funding support is focused on treatments for rare conditions that are life-threatening and where the treatment is effective in extending the patient’s lifespan,” he said.

Besides donating to the Tree of Hope, the public can show their support through tasks such as reposting content about the campaign on social media, taking part in the RDF’s social media activities that involve answering questions about rare diseases, and watching the stories of beneficiaries featured on the RDF’s social media channels (

@rarediseasefundsingapore

). 

More information is also available at

https://www.kkh.com.sg/giving/Documents/Rare-Disease-Fund/index.html