FHF provides healthcare support to needy

Singapore

FULLERTON Health Foundation (FHF) has made considerable strides towards providing healthcare support and education to the less privileged, who more often than not face barriers to accessing medical care.

"The Fullerton Health Foundation was formally launched in 2016, with the mission to provide comprehensive health services and support better quality of education to the underprivileged," said chairman David Sin.

The principle of giving back to the community is deeply embedded in FHF's culture and that of its parent company, Fullerton Health.

Incorporated in 2010, Fullerton Health has over 200 self-owned medical facilities, 350 doctors and over 8,000 panel providers in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, China and Australia. Therefore, FHF is able to tap this network in fulfilling its mission.

The foundation's body of work covers two "principal pillars", the first of which is its mobile health initiative. Since January 2015, FHF has organised Project Big Heart (PBH) in partnership with Jurong Central GRC and Loving Heart Multi-Service Centre. PBH is held up to three times a year and has expanded to include more than 300 volunteers who provide free services to over 600 residents and dispense up to three months' worth of chronic medicine, amounting to about S$200,000.

"We involve our staff and partners in our community outreach. Our doctors volunteer their time (PBH is usually organised on Sundays) and find it an enriching experience to serve the underprivileged as the patient profile is often different from what they typically see at their clinics," said Mr Sin.

The health checks are targeted at common chronic disease identification and treatment, such as hypertension, diabetes and high cholesterol.

FHF's initiatives are not limited to Singapore. With a well-established presence in Kalimantan, Indonesia, the foundation also runs three projects focused on health education, early disease detection and improving access to good healthcare.

The second pillar takes on a regional focus involving FHF's efforts with The Global Fund, an international financing institution which provides support to countries with the aim of ending Aids, tuberculosis and malaria as epidemics.

The Global Fund raises and invests nearly US$4 billion a year to support such programmes run by local experts. In this case, The Global Fund collaborates with FHF to support the latter's programmes in Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam.

Corporate partners and clients also contribute to FHF in the form of fund raising. They were most recently involved in the inaugural FHF Champions Cup in November 2016, where S$32,000 was raised with the proceeds going towards PBH.

This is part of a series of stories on impactful corporate giving under the Company of Good programme led by the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre (NVPC). The Business Times is supporting the initiative as media partner.

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