The presentation to Rotary Club of Singapore members on how the SGH Needy Patients Fund is able to help many low-income families moved Mr Noshir Mistri so much that he decided to donate to the fund more regularly.
This story was first published in Singapore Health, May-Jun 2016 issue.
Just as the plight of mothers and their sick children sleeping on the floors of overcrowded wards at the Singapore General Hospital (SGH) moved the late Mr Navroji Mistri to donate to the hospital in the 1950s, so did a talk about needy patients strike a similar chord with his nephew, Mr Noshir H Mistri.
The presentation to Rotary Club of Singapore members on how the SGH Needy Patients Fund is able to help many low-income families moved Mr Noshir Mistri so much that he decided to donate to the fund more regularly.
“After we attended the talk, we decided to give from time to time. We have donated for the past two years,” said Mr Mistri.
“The decision was also influenced by my uncle. My family has always been involved in social and charity work.”
Some SGH Needy Patients Fund recipients include sole breadwinners who support young children and elderly family members on a low income.
Mr Mistri’s uncle was a well-known Indian entrepreneur and philanthropist who donated $950,000 in 1953 – a huge amount in those days – to build Singapore’s first paediatrics ward, known as the Mistri Wing, in 1955. The building now houses SGH’s Diabetes and Metabolism Centre.
He was best known for his soda drinks business in Singapore and Mistri Road, near Shenton Way, which was named in his honour.
The couple is continuing the legacy of their late uncle who died of diabetes in late 1953. Mr Mistri said: “I have toured the Mistri Wing and I felt very proud to be associated with it.”
