Singapore – To raise the target fund of S$50,000 for needy heart patients, 17 doctors from the National University Heart Centre, Singapore (NUHCS) will double-hat as ambassadors for the NUHCS ‘The Heart Fund – Keep the Beat’ fund-raising campaign. The 17 doctor-ambassadors from the National University Heart Centre, Singapore will clock a combined distance of 170km at the upcoming Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon to rally for Singaporeans to donate generously.

With the Heart Fund – Keep the Beat campaign, NUHCS aims to bridge unmet gaps to ensure needy heart patients receive the financial assistance to help them with the cost of medical treatment and long-term rehabilitation. The fund will also go towards supporting medical research for breakthrough in the field of cardiovascular diseases as well as training and upgrading of skills to enhance patient care. 

“Despite the existing government and community assistance schemes, there are many needy patients who fall through the cracks. The gap is most apparent when patients require newer and more advanced lifesaving procedures after exhausting other treatment methods. But given the novelty of the procedures, many have yet to be covered under existing funding schemes. This is when The Heart Fund by NUHCS will make a difference to needy patients, including the sandwich class who needs the treatment but cannot afford to chalk up a huge bill,” said Dr. Edgar Tay, Senior Consultant at the Department of Cardiology, National University Heart Centre, Singapore, who will also be running to raise funds.

For the past year between October 2016 and September 2017, 51 needy patients have benefitted from the generous donation from people from all walks of life. One particular donor of The Heart Fund was Nobel Laureate Dr. Sydney Brenner, 90 who went through a transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) procedure at NUHCS in 2016.