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Straits Times
31-07-2025
- Health
- Straits Times
SingHealth nurses get $5.7m from Wee Foundation for education, skills development
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Ms Wee Wei Ling, Wee Foundation director (right), and Senior Minister of State for Health Tan Kiat How serve nurses during the SingHealth Nurses' Day celebrations. SINGAPORE – SingHealth nurses will be receiving a further $5.7 million from the Wee Foundation to advance their education and provide them with more training opportunities . This comes after the charitable organisation gave the healthcare cluster nurses $5 million for educational and professional development in 2022, when it established a nursing academic fund for that purpose. Wee Foundation director Wee Wei Ling told The Straits Times on July 29: 'Nurses are the backbone of healthcare, providing selfless dedication. They go out of their way, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, working day and night caring for the sick. 'The Wee Foundation felt they deserve our help in providing them scholarships to further their studies and funding for innovations.' Linked to the late Dr Wee Cho Yaw, a banker and philanthropist, the Wee Foundation was set up in February 2009 with an initial S$30 million endowment from the Wee family. The charitable foundation focuses on education and welfare for the underprivileged, and also promotes Chinese language and culture, as well as social integration. In 2022, the Wee Foundation Nursing Academic Fund was established with an inaugural $5 million to advance nurses' capabilities through higher education and postgraduate studies. It also offered them training grants to become competent in areas such as digitalisation, artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and global health. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore SMRT's finances hit by 2024 EWL disruption; profit after tax for trains division dips 8% Asia US-Malaysia tariff deal set for Aug 1 after Trump-Anwar phone call Business Deepening S'pore-Latin America ties a matter of urgency amid global trade uncertainty: Alvin Tan Singapore Underground pipe leak likely reason for water supply issues during Toa Payoh fire: Town council Multimedia 60 years, 60 items: A National Day game challenge Life Milo tees, kaya toast pimple patches, crockery: Here are the SG60 merch to collect Singapore 'Switching careers just as I became a dad was risky, but I had to do it for my family' Since then, the fund has helped 970 SingHealth nurses through different educational opportunities. One of them is Ms Reina Cheong, 26, a staff nurse with the Singapore General Hospital (SGH). Ms Cheong, who used to spend long hours draining fluid from the abdomen of patients with abdominal swelling, felt there was a safer and more efficient way of doing this. Ms Reina Cheong, a staff nurse at Singapore General Hospital, will be developing a mechanical pump to make it safer and more efficient to drain excess fluid from the abdomen of cancer patients. ST PHOTO: BRIAN TEO 'Draining this fluid manually is time-consuming and needs the constant attention of the nurse, especially when large amounts of fluid are involved,' she said. Ms Cheong explained that the rate at which fluid is removed is crucial because 'too much and too fast can result in a drop in blood pressure and, in severe cases, hypovolaemic shock', a life-threatening condition when the body loses too much blood or fluid. She came up with the idea of a mechanical device that automatically stops when the drainage reaches the safe limit and pitched this solution at the 2024 SingHealth Nursing Innovation Challenge. Her team was later given seed fundin g for a feasible pilot project. Currently, Ms Cheong is working with a company to develop her pump. A total of 116 nurses received the Wee Foundation Nurses' Day Awards on July 29 and another 32 nurses were given the Wee Foundation Nursing Scholarships to further their studies.
Straits Times
24-05-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
NUS, NTU and hospitals get the biggest donations in S'pore
Education Minister Chan Chun Sing (third from left) at a signing ceremony to formalise a $110 million gift from UOB and the Wee Foundation to NTU. With him are (from left) UOB deputy chairman and chief executive Wee Ee Cheong, Wee Foundation director Wee Wei Ling, NTU president Ho Teck Hua and NTU board chair Goh Swee Chen. PHOTO: ST FILE Universities and hospitals get the largest multimillion-dollar donations in Singapore SINGAPORE - The biggest donations in Singapore have traditionally gone to universities and hospitals here. In April, it was reported that Nanyang Technological University received $110 million from UOB and the Wee Foundation, which was set up by the bank's former chairman, the late Mr Wee Cho Yaw. The gift would go towards supporting three new programmes, including the NTU Opportunity Grant where undergraduates in need can get up to $10,000 to pay for their campus accommodation and overseas exchanges, among other things. This is the second-largest donation the university has received. In 2011, the Lee Foundation gave $150 million to NTU to start its medical school, the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine. The late Mr Lee Kong Chian, who was known as the rubber and pineapple king for the businesses he ran, started the Lee Foundation in 1952. The National University of Singapore is also a recipient of some of the biggest donations here. Its Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy received $101 million in 2023 from the Low Tuck Kwong Foundation to support public officers from Asia and provide scholarships for students in the region. The foundation, named after coal tycoon Low Tuck Kwong, is one of the new philanthropic foundations in Singapore set up in the past three years by some of the richest people in the world. Others include the Dalio Foundation by American hedge fund billionaire Ray Dalio and his family, and the Elaine and Eduardo Saverin Foundation by Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin. The sum given by the Low Tuck Kwong Foundation is just slightly more than the $100 million Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka Shing donated to the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in 2007. Back in 2005, the NUS Medical School received a $100 million gift from the Yong Loo Lin Trust and was renamed the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine. Mr Yong Loo Lin was born in Malaysia, graduated as a doctor from the University of Hong Kong, and became a successful businessman in Hong Kong. He died in 1959. In 2011, the family of the late property tycoon Ng Teng Fong, the founder of Far East Organization, donated $125 million to a new hospital. Jurong General Hospital was renamed the Ng Teng Fong General Hospital in honour of the gift. The family of another tycoon, Mr Khoo Teck Puat, also donated $125 million in 2007 towards the building of a new hospital in Yishun. The bulk of the sum went towards the construction cost of the Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, and the remainder was for a welfare fund to help poor patients. The late Mr Khoo was a banker and hotelier whose family owns the Goodwood Group of Hotels. Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.
