SINGAPORE — When Mr Tim Oei told his friends he was joining the National Kidney Foundation (NKF), the first questions they posed were about the charity’s past scandals.

His response was for them to think about NKF’s beneficiaries.

“I said, have you considered … the patients? A lot of people forget about the patients and their lives,” the charity’s new chief executive officer (CEO) said yesterday in his first media interview since taking over on Aug 21.

Mr Oei, who left another non-profit, AWWA, to join the NKF said he would like to move forward from its past scandals. “I would like to see almost like a ‘Control-Alternate-Delete’, and let’s move on ... Let’s focus on what we can do, let’s focus on what we have done and can do for the patients,” said the 58-year-old.

“The past is the past, things have been done, I cannot undo all those. But we have learnt some lessons (and) we have strengthened the organisation.”

One of the largest charities here, the organisation was rocked by the sacking of former CEO Edmund Kwok last November for a personal indiscretion with a male employee.

It was the second high-profile leadership setback after revelations in 2005 of former CEO T T Durai’s lavish lifestyle using money raised by the charity and, subsequently, his conviction and three-month jail term for misleading the NKF.

NKF chairman Koh Poh Tiong said yesterday that there had been no updates on Mr Kwok’s case, while the police said they were still investigating.

Mr Oei’s appointment, announced on May 31, came after a five-month search involving more than 50 candidates, during which former CEO Eunice Tay filled in.

While the processes involved in managing the charity and stewardship of funds are in place, Mr Koh said no organisation can ensure that personal indiscretions will never happen.

Asked about the direction in which he wants to take the NKF, Mr Oei said he would like to “go back to the basics” of how and why the charity was formed. This means providing quality dialysis services to kidney patients, and financial and social support.

For instance, the NKF could work with other non-profit organisations and the government to provide counselling and allied health services, and help employers understand the difficulties faced by dialysis patients.

Donors have been supportive and were reassured by Mr Oei’s social services background — the former lawyer joined AWWA, whose beneficiaries include people with disabilities and the elderly, in 2008. Mr Koh said donations have not been affected by the recent controversy.

The NKF currently has about 167,000 donors — fewer than the 250,000 it had at the height of Mr Durai’s leadership but more than some 144,000 about five years ago. It runs 32 dialysis centres and will be building seven more, including an integrated renal centre by 2020.

Mr Oei started work two weeks earlier than the date previously announced as he was — in Mr Koh’s words — “impatient” to get going. Asked about his pay, Mr Oei said he is being paid fairly and “would rather not focus on the salary”.

While it was not an easy decision to leave AWWA, he said the NKF had approached him at the “right time”, just as he was reviewing his career and felt AWWA was equipped with good leaders.

“I’m out of my comfort zone; I grew with AWWA. I’m 58 years old, am I too old to learn new tricks? Not so easy but I think I’m open and I will try,” he said.