The Mapletree Community Impact Programme is set to benefit more than 47,000 patients and caregivers through volunteer contributions

SINGAPORE – Mapletree Investments (“Mapletree” or “the Group”) and the Singapore International Foundation (“SIF”) have launched the Mapletree Community Impact Programme on 14 November 2025. This new initiative enables Singapore’s specialist healthcare volunteers to contribute their expertise to local communities in India and Vietnam. Made possible by a S$250,000 donation from Mapletree to SIF, the programme underscores a shared commitment to enabling skilled volunteerism and professional exchange that builds long-term capacity and strengthens Singapore’s people-to-people ties in the region.

More than 47,000 patients and caregivers are expected to benefit as SIF’s Singapore International Volunteers (“SIVs”) and other volunteers share professional knowledge with regional peers, strengthen local healthcare capabilities and pilot community-level initiatives. The programme currently supports a total of 14 volunteers on two ongoing projects in India and Vietnam.

Mr Edmund Cheng, Chairman, Mapletree said, “Mapletree is committed to empowering individuals through two of our four CSR pillars – healthcare and education. We believe that volunteer-led initiatives play a key role in creating lasting community impact by sharing knowledge and expertise, and Singapore has much to offer in this regard. Hence, we are pleased to launch the Mapletree Community Impact Programme with SIF. This initiative aligns with our commitment to serving communities where the Group has an established presence, especially in India and Vietnam. We hope Mapletree’s support for SIF will further encourage Singapore’s healthcare volunteers and enhance their ground-up initiatives to raise healthcare standards for communities in need.”

Singapore-Vietnam: Training Healthcare Professionals to Advance Nephrology Care (THAN)

Started in July 2024, THAN is a three-and-a-half-year training-of-trainers (“TOT”) initiative by the SIF, in partnership with Tan Tock Seng Hospital (“TTSH”), an anchor hospital of NHG Health in Singapore, and Cho Ray Hospital (“CRH”), to advance the standard of nephrology care in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Spearheaded by a team of six SIVs, comprising specialist physicians and nurses from TTSH’s Department of Renal Medicine, this initiative facilitates the exchange of expert knowledge, skills and clinical experience in nephrology care with more than 250 Vietnamese healthcare professionals from CRH and other hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.

The project will identify and train 10 Vietnamese Master Trainers, guided by the SIVs from TTSH, who will then share their best practices across institutions in the country. By its conclusion in 2027, THAN is expected to benefit nearly 12,000 patients.

Dr Yeo See Cheng, SIV Team Lead and Head and Senior Consultant at TTSH’s Department of Renal Medicine, said, “Working with healthcare professionals in Vietnam has been a deeply rewarding and enriching experience. We learn just as much from our counterparts as we share on global kidney health advocacy. These interactions have enriched my own practice in Singapore. What makes the initiative in Vietnam especially impactful is the ability to design training that is responsive to on-the-ground realities. With structured support through the Mapletree Community Impact Programme, we will be able to co-develop practical, context-specific solutions that can lead to more sustainable improvements in nephrology care.”

Singapore-India: Palliative Care Accessibility Core Training (“PACT”)

Launched in March 2025, PACT is a TOT initiative that aims to enhance palliative care services in India. It is led by a multidisciplinary team of eight volunteers from Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, Alexandra Hospital, HMI Medical Centre, HCA Hospice Care, St Andrew’s Community Hospital and Inspiring ConneXion, as well as the South-East Asia World Federation of Music Therapy.

Under the project, 31 Master Trainers from 14 Indian states will be trained by the Singapore team to mentor and share their knowledge with 1,240 healthcare practitioners in medical and educational institutions. The three-year project is expected to benefit approximately 35,000 patients and caregivers.

The SIV team is led by Dr Ramaswamy Akhileswaran, Senior Palliative Medicine Consultant at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital’s Department of Geriatrics, who has volunteered with the SIF for over 16 years.

Dr Akhileswaran said, “Volunteering with the SIF over the past 16 years has been a meaningful part of my professional journey. Through the PACT project, I’ve had the opportunity to co-develop a sustainable training model that responds to local healthcare challenges in India. Collaborating with peers on the ground – and learning from their experiences – has deepened our collective understanding of how to deliver compassionate, culturally sensitive care. The support from the Mapletree Community Impact Programme enables us to take this work further by piloting locally relevant solutions that not only improve palliative care in India but also offer insights that can benefit our own practices in Singapore.”

Mr Janadas Devan, Chairman, Singapore International Foundation, said it was especially meaningful to hold the cheque presentation at Tan Tock Seng Hospital – a partner of the THAN project, where the Singapore volunteers are based.

He added: “The SIF is powered by the passionate commitment of our Singapore volunteers, and I wish to thank Mapletree for its philanthropic leadership in supporting our mission and the aspirations of our specialist volunteers. We are very excited about this partnership that combines Mapletree’s dedication to building resilient communities with the SIF’s longstanding experience in fostering collaboration among communities to exchange ideas, skills, resources, and experiences to create positive social impact. The SIF would also like to thank Mapletree for the perfect timing of this gift. Now is the best time to encourage collective action, when it is needed more than ever in the era of global misalignments, and we trust that Mapletree’s leadership will inspire wider philanthropic support for Singapore International Volunteers.”

Mapletree’s S$250,000 donation to SIF follows a recent S$3 million donation to the National University of Singapore, aimed at enhancing service-learning courses that will benefit over 60,000 seniors and vulnerable families. Both donations are part of Mapletree’s US$10 million pledge to the Philanthropy Asia Alliance (“PAA”). Launched by Temasek Trust in 2023, PAA was established to catalyse collaborative philanthropy by forging cross-sector partnerships to address Asia’s most pressing challenges.

Mr Edmund Cheng (left), Chairman of Mapletree Investments, presents a cheque for S$250,000 to Mr Janadas Devan, Chairman of the Singapore International Foundation, in support of the Mapletree Community Impact Programme. The donation strengthens SIF’s efforts to enable Singapore International Volunteers (SIVs) to uplift communities through healthcare projects in India and Vietnam.

Representatives from the Singapore International Foundation, Mapletree Investments, and Singapore International Volunteers (SIVs) at the Mapletree Community Impact Programme Appreciation Ceremony on 14 November 2025 at Tan Tock Seng Hospital.



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