Parkway Pantai gives S$2m to establish scholarship

Singapore

PARKWAY Pantai Limited has contributed S$2 million to the establishment of a Mount Elizabeth-Gleneagles Graduate Scholarship fund for financially needy Duke-NUS medical students.

The latest addition takes the cumulative amount of scholarship contribution to S$8.5 million.

The Mount Elizabeth-Gleneagles Graduate Scholarship is valued at S$10,000 each and is bond-free.

Tan See Leng, Group CEO and managing director of Parkway Pantai, said: "Medical education is not cheap and tuition fees are rising even though our government has heavily subsidised these costs. We have to help aspiring doctors realise their dream regardless of their financial background."

Dr Tan added that Parkway Pantai is committed to nurturing the next generation of medical leaders who will shape the future of medicine in Singapore.

"While nurturing our youth, we are cognisant that Singapore is facing a silver tsunami. We have set up two professorships with YLLSoM to engage academics to research and develop strategies to help Singapore cope with a rapidly ageing population. As one of Asia's largest healthcare providers, we continue to look at ways to give back to society through investing in medical education."

M Premikha, an awardee of the scholarship who is from NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, said that such scholarships help to alleviate the financial burden at home. "Instead of doing part-time jobs, I was able to focus on my studies, participate in additional research projects in the areas of public health, neurology and obstetrics & gynaecology, volunteer at various organisations, as well as pursue my creative writing abilities with National Library Board's Young Writers Circle."

The cheque was presented to Duke-NUS on Sept 21.