We (Anthea, Vincent and Dhanesh) are a group of friends who have helped migrant and domestic workers with non work-related critical illnesses, such as cancer, to set up crowdfunding campaigns for their treatment and living expenses. Through this work, we have witnessed the heartbreaking struggles of these low-wage workers who cannot afford the high medical costs in Singapore or back home, despite years of hard work.

We think this is a complex problem that has remained stuck because there are multiple stakeholders with different constraints that make it difficult to answer the question: “who pays?”

Here is our hypothesis of the perspectives that these stakeholders may have:

• Employers: May be hesitant to pay because they are already mandated to pay for medical insurance and a monthly levy. They may prefer for this levy to be used to subsidise insurance premiums
• Insurers: Little market incentive to provide subsidised premiums or expanded coverage for migrant workers with critical illnesses
• Migrant Workers: Workers who earn low-wages and have recruitment debt may be unable / unwilling to see the value of insurance and pay for it, even if the premium amount is small
• Government: Juggling the trade-offs between allocating resources to Singaporeans and migrant workers
• Government-Linked NGOs Providing Financial Assistance: May be restricted by their guidelines to pay out a fixed amount for specific situations that may not include treatment for critical illnesses
• General Public: May not be willing to accept higher costs of hiring domestic workers or higher housing prices. May feel that taxpayer monies should go to Singaporeans and not foreigners.

This would enable us to support at least 60 migrant workers over two years, providing them with money they can use to either seek treatment or use as income replacement for their family.

All funds raised will be strictly held and administered by Ray of Hope, a registered charity in Singapore with Institute of Public Character (IPC) status, that is audited annually by the office of the Commissioner of Charities.

Since their founding in 2012, Ray of Hope has raised over $10M from 60,000 donors that have benefitted 1,000 beneficiaries.

The process for fund disbursement will happen in 3 phases:

1. Migrant workers in need will be assessed by a Secretariat Team comprising social workers and people trained in needs assessment. They will be asked to share relevant medical documents for us to conduct due diligence on their condition.
2. The Secretariat Team will compile their assessment into a report and a recommended fund disbursement amount. This report and recommendation will be shared at a monthly-meeting of the community-led council.
3. The community-led council provides their input into the due diligence conducted and the recommended fund disbursement amount, deciding on the final amount to be disbursed to the migrant worker.
4. Once confirmed, Ray of Hope’s team will disburse the confirmed amount to the migrant worker – either in installments or in a lump-sum payment, depending on the circumstances.

The current members on our community-led Council are:

• Dr Alicia Altorfer-Ong, Executive Director, Ray of Hope
• Ms Anthea Ong, Former Nominated Member of Parliament
• Dr Ng Kok Hoe, President, Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics
• Ms Stacey Choe, Co-Founder, Real Impact Advisors
• Mr David Bensadon, Managing Director, We Are Caring
• Dr Sudesna Roy Chowdhury, Medical Doctor
• Mr Alex Lee, Independent Actuarial Consultant

To date, the CritiCare Fund has raised S$70,155 from public and philanthropic donations.

We have assessed 26 migrant workers (including 9 domestic workers and 17 workers from the Construction, Marine and Process sectors) and approved disbursements for 7 cases, committing S$36,325 in financial assistance to support medical treatment and care.

These include workers seeking diagnostic tests, living with advanced stage cancers or recovering from life-altering injuries, such as:

• B, a 51-year old domestic worker who required funds to perform a PET Scan for a more accurate cancer diagnosis

• R, a 53-year old domestic worker who required funds for diagnostic tests for a more accurate cancer diagnosis

• N, a 46-year old migrant construction worker who was diagnosed with Stage 3 Hogkin’s Lymphoma

• L, a 29-year old domestic worker who was diagnosed with Stage 2 Cervical Cancer

• M, a 38-year old cleaner who suffered an amputation of her leg after a serious road accident

• BA, a 54-year old migrant construction worker who was diagnosed with serious primary membranous nephropathy with a high risk of kidney failure

• NZ, a 40-year old migrant construction worker who was diagnosed with Blood Cancer

While the CritiCare Fund exists to meet urgent needs, it also seeks to learn from every case.

Over time, the Fund aims to collect data and insights to inform longer-term systemic reforms, including the potential development of group insurance products with meaningful critical illness coverage, and renewed discussions around subsidised outpatient care for migrant workers facing serious illness.

Please feel free to reach out to us! We are happy to answer any additional questions or clarify any details. You can write to us at: mwsgcriticarefund@gmail.com or use the contact form on this website.