THE National Kidney Foundation (NKF) has tied up with two agencies to run courses in job skills to improve patients' employability.

The charity has enlisted the help of South East Community Development Council (CDC) to run programmes to improve the English and computer skills of its patients.

Next month, a batch of 60 patients will sit for free aptitude tests conducted by the CDC to gauge their language and maths skills.

Based on the results, the CDC will then recommend them for subsidised courses which could help them get jobs, a CDC spokesman said.

The NKF hit on this service when it learnt that many of its patients failed job interviews this year because they were weak in English and computer skills. Only about 35 per cent of its estimated 1,980 patients now work.

Another 20 per cent are too ill to work. The remaining 45 per cent - about 900 patients - are fit enough to work but do not do so.

Of these 900, about 170 or 19 per cent want to work but cannot land a job. The rest are retirees and housewives.

The NKF's move to help its patients break into the job market coincides with recent news that the amount patients owe it in unpaid fees has doubled over the past two years. Nearly 400 patients now owe the NKF $1.85 million.

The push for training, and hence employability, is aimed not only at patients who are in debt, said NKF chief executive Eunice Tay.

Mrs Tay, who also has retirees and housewives on her radar, said: 'Learning a new skill and then working will give them a sense of self worth, even if they don't need the money.'

Being gainfully occupied, she added, could help patients stay healthy.

The NKF will help organise a job fair when the training is over, said Mrs Tay. Judging by patients' competence and inclination, it has identified call centres as a potential source of jobs.

The NKF has also canvassed companies to hire these patients, a call at least one company has responded to.

After security firm Evtec Management Services gave jobs to two patients, NKF officers asked if it had more vacancies.

Impressed by the performance of the first two, the company said it will hire up to 50 patients as guards to monitor surveillance cameras at various buildings across the island.

Fist, they must pass an interview and test following a two-week course on the requirements of the job, said Evtec managing director Genevieve Pereira.

About 25 patients have been shortlisted and are now being trained by the company.

Ms Pereira said: 'Someone who is hungry for a job will be more alert than many physically fit people who take jobs for granted.'

Many of these shortlisted candidates have experience in security jobs, she noted.

Mr Sukumaran Gopalan Nair, 44, is an example.

Kidney failure forced the former airport police officer to stop work in 2004. Regular dialysis has made him fit to work for more than a year now, he said, but no jobs have come his way and his savings are almost gone.

Shortlisted for a job as a guard at Evtec, he is now studying for the mandatory test, which he is determined to pass.

He said: 'It will be great to put on a uniform again. I am very, very happy.'

radhab@sph.com.sg