Car-washing for charity: (From left) Dr Jean Chai, Dr Joy Chan, Dr Yvonne Chung and Dr Boey Pui Yi (crouching) of the Singapore National Eye Centre raised $1,100 in half a day washing their colleagues' cars. (Picture: SingHealth)

By Ng Wan Ching

MEDICINE is his profession.

Cooking is his hobby.

And last month, to raise money for charity, Professor Donald Tan whipped out his apron, lugged a full-scale barbecue pit to the rooftop garden at the Singapore National Eye Centre (SNEC) and cooked two five-course dinners.

Eager participants of the dinner cooked by Prof Tan, the medical director of SNEC, coughed up hundreds of dollars each to taste his culinary creations.

For the first night, on 10 Oct, it was Japanese-Italian fusion with wakame mesclum salad and wagyu steaks.

The second night, on 24 Oct, featured a French-Italian-Singaporean menu with burrata (ultra-fresh creamy buffalo mozzarella) and linguine aragosta (lobster tail linguine with crispy capers).

The dinner was for 10 people each night, all doctors or hospital administrators.

Prof Tan himself paid for and prepared the ingredients, cooked in front of the diners and served the dishes.

He raised almost $3,000 for his effort.

This is part of SingHealth’s efforts to raise funds for President’s Challenge 2008.

Said a SingHealth spokesman: “We have exceeded our target of $250,000 and have reached $280,000. Donations are still streaming in and we will know the final figure collected on Friday.

“Our fund-raising effort, which kicked-off in August, also includes charity bazaars, sale of home-made cookies, pledge cards, corporate donations.”

Said Prof Tan: “Seeing our doctors cooking, baking and selling food for the President’s Challenge gave me the idea to cook for charity.”

The avid cook frequently invites his colleagues, especially SNEC’s foreign clinical fellows, to his home for dinners.

“That is when I try my new recipes on them! They often ask for recipes, so I thought they would like a cooking ‘masterclass’ for a change,” he said.

The biggest challenge for Prof Tan was bringing cooking paraphernalia to the SNEC roof garden.

“But it was great fun, and I think we all had a good time! The wine helped too...,” he said.

He added: “I can explore a new career when I retire, although I don’t think I should give up ophthalmology just yet!”

He is now thinking of doing this on a regular basis.

“We have so many doctors and staff who are talented cooks, and our green roof garden is ideal for an al fresco dining experience,” he said.

Some other doctors relied on their muscles. Four women SNEC doctors took time off their busy schedule to wash their SingHealth colleagues’ cars for charity.

They washed 12 cars on the SNEC premises during the half-day event on 27 Sep, raising $1,100.

Said Dr Boey Pui Yi, medical officer at SNEC: “One of our doctors who is a car enthusiast came up with this idea of carwashing to raise funds for charity.”

She and three colleagues – Drs Jean Chai, Joy Chan and Yvonne Chung (the car enthusiast) – were initially apprehensive about the response as they had not done it before.

“But it turned out to be great! Many of the senior staff in SNEC, including Prof Donald Tan, as well as our SingHealth Group CEO Prof Tan Ser Kiat, were extremely supportive of our cause and donated generously to have their cars washed, waxed and vacuumed by us,” she said.

Some consultants who did not get their cars washed donated to the cause as well.

“On the day of the carwash, we specially brought in our own power-washer, foam, car shampoo, hosereels and the like, to put in our best effort for the event,” she said.

“It was well worth the effort.”

They also had so much fun that they intend to do it again, she said.

Free health checks, carnival on Saturday

SingHealth's theme for its President's Challenge efforts this year is "Healthcare, I Care".

SingHealth will provide free health screening (worth more than $100,000) to about 1,800 members of the public and beneficiaries on 15 Nov. This includes general health screening, and eye and dental screening.

On the same day, Singapore General Hospital will hold an outreach carnival for elderly, needy and wheelchair-bound beneficiaries in conjunction.

It will teach beneficiaries interesting ways to keep fit, such as through a co-ordination/fine motor skills challenge and Nintendo Wii games.

Said SingHealth Group CEO Tan Ser Kiat: "Despite the tough economic times, I am pleased that our staff and partners in the community are still generously contributing time and money to reach out to the needy."