Khoo Oon Teik

Khoo Oon Teik (Dr) (b. 30 March 1921, Penang, Malaysia–5 March 2012, Singapore) was a doctor and the founder of the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) in Singapore.¹ Called the “Father of nephrology in Singapore”, he established the first renal dialysis unit, as well as the intensive care and coronary care units, at the Singapore General Hospital (SGH) in the 1960s.² 

Education and early life
Khoo was born in Penang and studied at the Anglo-Chinese School there. In 1937, he was admitted to the King Edward VII College of Medicine in Singapore.³ His studies were interrupted when the Japanese invaded Malaya and Singapore.⁴

During the Battle of Singapore, Khoo was responsible for deploying senior medical students to operating theatres at SGH. He worked in Penang as a medical officer after the British surrendered, and was later sent by the Japanese to the railway being constructed between Burma and Siam.⁵ 

When the war ended, Khoo worked as a nutritional officer under the British Military Administration before resuming his studies at the college. In 1947, he was conferred the Licentiate in Medicine and Surgery.⁶ Khoo was then appointed tutor in clinical medicine, and later became chief clinical assistant to Gordon A. Ransome (Professor), founder and first Master of the Academy of Medicine, Singapore.⁷

Together with Ernest Monteiro (Professor), Khoo started the Skin and Leprosy Clinic at SGH in 1948.⁸ 

In 1952, Khoo attained his Master of Medicine from the University of Malaya.⁹

Medical career 
Khoo became a member of the Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1952, and then a fellow in 1966. He was admitted as a member to the Royal Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons in Glasgow in 1953.¹⁰

Khoo became director of SGH’s renal unit in 1961.¹¹ In 1964, he helped start SGH’s first intensive care unit, followed by its first coronary care unit in 1967.¹² Then in 1971, he became head of SGH’s Medical Unit II.¹³

In 1965, Khoo was appointed professor of clinical medicine at the University of Singapore – now National University of Singapore (NUS).¹⁴ He subsequently served as chairman of NUS’s department of medicine.¹⁵

In addition, Khoo was a founder member and Master (1964–66) of the Academy of Medicine and the Association of Physicians of Malaya. He was also a founder of the Singapore Dermatological Society and served as its president from 1960 to 1975.¹⁶

Concerned with social issues such as alcoholism, drug addiction, ageing and the lack of hospitals for the dying,¹⁷ Khoo helped set up Alcoholics Anonymous in Singapore in the 1950s and the Drug Dependence Clinic in 1971.¹⁸ A Methodist, Khoo was also chairman and later president of the International Congress of Christian Physicians.¹⁹ He retired in 1979.²⁰

Establishing the National Kidney Foundation
In the late 1950s, Khoo’s brother, Khoo Oon Eng (Reverend), died of kidney failure after much suffering.²¹ The experience motivated Khoo to establish Singapore’s first renal dialysis and transplant unit at SGH in 1969. He started the unit in an attic at the hospital, together with fellow doctors Gwee Ah Leng, Lim Cheng Hong and Lee Yong Kiat.²² Then on 29 March 1970, the renal unit at the University of Singapore’s department of clinical medicine was opened by the university’s then deputy vice-chancellor, Reginald Quahe.²³ 

In the 1960s, around 200 people died from kidney failure each year, and Khoo realised that many could not afford the cost of dialysis.²⁴ In 1969, Khoo and a group of volunteers organised a film premiere to raise funds to make dialysis available to renal patients under the auspices of the NKF.²⁵

Khoo founded NKF in 1969 as a society under the Societies Act.²⁶ He established the foundation as a societal help scheme for needy kidney patients.²⁷ On 7 April 1969, the NKF was inaugurated by then President Yusof Ishak.²⁸

NKF collaborated with various government organisations, hospitals, as well as religious and community organisations, as Khoo believed in working with different segments of the community to form a resilient network for kidney patients.²⁹ He was also a strong advocate of public funding for dialysis treatment programmes and rehabilitation of kidney patients.³⁰ By 1999, about 1,600 kidney patients – two-thirds of all kidney patients – were receiving subsidised treatments.³¹

Khoo chaired the NKF until 1995, when he had to retire after a stroke and an operation to remove a cyst in his brain.³² 

After the NKF corruption scandal in 2005 involving then Chief Executive Officer T. T. Durai, there were calls from the public to have the name of NKF changed.³³ However, the government resisted these calls as it wanted Khoo’s “legacy of selfless volunteerism to live on”.³⁴

Legacy
In 2009, Khoo was called the father of dialysis treatment in Singapore by then Minister for Health Khaw Boon Wan.³⁵ Khoo has also been credited with promoting medical excellence by initiating specialisation in doctors’ training during his 32 years at SGH and NUS.³⁶ He helped to start off some specialities in cardiology, endocrinology and metabolism, gastroenterology, dermatology and nephrology at the National University Hospital.³⁷

In honour of Khoo, the Khoo Oon Teik Professorship in Nephrology was set up by NUS in 1999 to carry out research on kidney disease, expand clinical and laboratory programmes, and engage world-class experts to assist and advise local doctors in the field.³⁸ It had an initial endowment of S$6 million, of which S$4.5 million were from the government and S$1.5 million from NKF.³⁹

Death
Khoo had been in poor health since 1995 when he underwent an operation to remove a brain cyst. In February 2012, he suffered epileptic seizures and organ failure; he died at 1.30 am on 5 March 2012 at SGH.⁴⁰ 

Family
Wife: Adeline Khoo⁴¹
Sons: Christopher Khoo, Wilfred Khoo, Walter Khoo, Arnold Khoo⁴²



Author
Alvin Chua



References
1. Tommy Koh et al eds., Singapore: The Encyclopedia (Singapore: Editions Didier Millet in association with the National Heritage Board, 2006), 279 (Call no. RSING 959.57003 SIN-[HIS]); Evan J. C. Lee and Chin Hin Chew, C. H. (2012, May). “Obituary: Dr Khoo Oon Teik (1921–2012),” Annals of the Academy of Medicine, Singapore 41, no. 5 (May 2012); Theresa Tan, “Singapore’s Kidney Health Pioneer Dies,” Straits Times, 6 March 2012, 4. (From NewspaperSG)
2. Lee and Chew, “Obituary: Dr Khoo Oon Teik (1921–2012)”; Tan, “Singapore’s Kidney Health Pioneer Dies”; Leo Suryadinata, Southeast Asian Personalities of Chinese Descent: A Biographical Dictionary, vol. 2 (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2012), 416. (Call no. RSING 959.004951 SOU)
3. Koh et al., Singapore: The Encyclopedia, 279; Suryadinata, Southeast Asian Personalities of Chinese Descent, 415.
4. Lee and Chew, “Obituary: Dr Khoo Oon Teik (1921–2012).”
5. Koh et al., Singapore: The Encyclopedia, 279; Tan, “Singapore’s Kidney Health Pioneer Dies”; Suryadinata, Southeast Asian Personalities of Chinese Descent, 415.
6. Koh et al., Singapore: The Encyclopedia, 279; Tan, “Singapore’s Kidney Health Pioneer Dies”; Suryadinata, Southeast Asian Personalities of Chinese Descent, 415.
7. Koh et al., Singapore: The Encyclopedia, 279; Tan, “Singapore’s Kidney Health Pioneer Dies”; Suryadinata, Southeast Asian Personalities of Chinese Descent, 415; “History,” Academy of Medicine, Singapore, accessed 25 April 2017.  
8. Tan, “Singapore’s Kidney Health Pioneer Dies”; Suryadinata, Southeast Asian Personalities of Chinese Descent, 415–16.
9. Koh et al., Singapore: The Encyclopedia, 279.
10. Koh et al., Singapore: The Encyclopedia, 279; Suryadinata, Southeast Asian Personalities of Chinese Descent, 416.
11. Tan, “Singapore’s Kidney Health Pioneer Dies”; Suryadinata, Southeast Asian Personalities of Chinese Descent, 415–16.
12. Lee and Chew, “Obituary: Dr Khoo Oon Teik (1921–2012)”; Suryadinata, Southeast Asian Personalities of Chinese Descent, 416.
13. Koh et al., Singapore: The Encyclopedia, 279.
14. Koh et al., Singapore: The Encyclopedia, 279; Lee and Chew, “Obituary: Dr Khoo Oon Teik (1921–2012)”; “Prof. Khoo Takes Over From Monteiro At S’pore U,” Straits Times, 30 October 1965, 5. (From NewspaperSG)
15. Koh et al., Singapore: The Encyclopedia, 279; Sheila Cheong, “Build Hospitals for the Dying Call,” Straits Times, 15 February 1977, 9. (From NewspaperSG)
16. Koh et al., Singapore: The Encyclopedia, 279; Suryadinata, Southeast Asian Personalities of Chinese Descent, 416.
17. “Junkies From the Upper Class Homes,” Straits Times, 25 June 1973, 1; “The Pitfalls of Early Retirement,” Straits Times, 9 September 1979, 6; “Problem of Caring for the Old in S’pore in Year 2000,” Straits Times, 24 August 1975, 7; Cheong, “Build Hospitals for the Dying Call.” (From NewspaperSG)
18. Lee and Chew, “Obituary: Dr Khoo Oon Teik (1921–2012)”; Tan, “Singapore’s Kidney Health Pioneer Dies”; Koh et al., Singapore: The Encyclopedia, 279.
19. Koh et al., Singapore: The Encyclopedia, 279; Suryadinata, Southeast Asian Personalities of Chinese Descent, 416.
20. Salma Khalik, “NKF Founder Honoured for Contributions,” Straits Times, 8 April 2009, 32. (From NewspaperSG)
21. Wendy Tan, “Tribute to the Founder of NKF,” Straits Times, 11 July 1999, 21; Tan, “Singapore’s Kidney Health Pioneer Dies”; Suryadinata, Southeast Asian Personalities of Chinese Descent, 416.
22. Tan, “Tribute to the Founder of NKF”; “‘We’ll Put System Back on Track’,” Straits Times, 22 December 2005, 24 (From NewspaperSG); Suryadinata, Southeast Asian Personalities of Chinese Descent, 416.
23. Soh Tiang Keng, “Fresh Hope of Kidney Cure,” Straits Times, 29 March 1970, 1. (From NewspaperSG)
24. Salma Khalik, “NKF Founder Honoured for Contributions.” 
25. “Our History,” National Kidney Foundation, accessed 7 August 2016; Suryadinata, Southeast Asian Personalities of Chinese Descent, 416; Lee and Chew, “Obituary: Dr Khoo Oon Teik (1921–2012).”
26. “‘We’ll Put System Back on Track’.” 
27. Salma Khalik, “NKF Founder Honoured for Contributions.” 
28. Koh et al., Singapore: The Encyclopedia, 371; “‘We’ll Put System Back on Track’”; Suryadinata, Southeast Asian Personalities of Chinese Descent, 416.   
29. Lee and Chew, “Obituary: Dr Khoo Oon Teik (1921–2012)”; “Transplant a Vital Part of Treatment and Not An Experiment,” Straits Times, 2 June 1973, 9; Tan, “Tribute to the Founder of NKF.”
30. Maureen Peters, “The First Kidney Transplant in Republic Soon,” Straits Times, 6 September 1968, 1; “‘We’ll Put System Back on Track’.”
31. Tan, “Tribute to the Founder of NKF.”
32. “‘We’ll Put System Back on Track’”; Tan, “Singapore’s Kidney Health Pioneer Dies”; Suryadinata, Southeast Asian Personalities of Chinese Descent, 416.
33. Salma Khalik, “NKF Founder Honoured for Contributions”; “‘We’ll Put System Back on Track’.”
34. Salma Khalik, “NKF Founder Honoured for Contributions.”
35. Salma Khalik, “NKF Founder Honoured for Contributions”; “‘We’ll Put System Back on Track’.”
36. Salma Khalik, “NKF Founder Honoured for Contributions.”
37. Lee and Chew, “Obituary: Dr Khoo Oon Teik (1921–2012)”; Salma Khalik, “NKF Founder Honoured for Contributions.”
38. Lee and Chew, “Obituary: Dr Khoo Oon Teik (1921–2012)”; Tan, “Tribute to the Founder of NKF”; Suryadinata, Southeast Asian Personalities of Chinese Descent, 416.
39. Tan, “Tribute to the Founder of NKF”; Suryadinata, Southeast Asian Personalities of Chinese Descent, 416.
40. Tan, “Singapore’s Kidney Health Pioneer Dies.”
41. Tan, “Singapore’s Kidney Health Pioneer Dies.”
42. Kevin Y. L. Tan, “Khoo Oon Teik,” in Leo Suryadinata, Southeast Asian Personalities of Chinese Descent: A Biographical Dictionary (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2012), 416–17. (Call no. RSING 959.004951 SOU)

The information in this article is valid as at 25 June 2014 and correct as far as we are able to ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the Library for further reading materials on the topic.