national kidney foundation

On Tuesday, May 26, 2015, APU School of Computing and Technology in collaboration with National Kidney Foundation Malaysia (NKF) and GO Communications Sdn Bhd organized a competition to develop a mobile game application to educate young people on the importance of caring for their kidneys in order to prevent Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), a condition that damages one’s kidneys, decreasing the organ’s ability to remove harmful waste from body. CKD is a common, life-threatening illness that often goes undetected at a very advanced stage. 
                                                                                           
Three teams which consisted of students from APU’s Mobile Multimedia and Gaming module, participated in the competition. It took four months of brainstorming and coding under the guidance and supervision of lecturer Mr. Jacob Sow, but the results were well worth the effort put in. Each of the three teams produced their own mobile game application. They all featured entertaining and interactive ways to innovatively drill into users’ minds the symptoms and effects of Chronic Kidney Disease, as well as measures that can be taken to prevent the disease.  However, it was “Kidney Rescue” designed by Lee Chee Yan and Amatullah Ashfaq that ultimately stood above the rest to win the competition. The panel of judges for the competition consisted of Ms. Shobana, Head of Branding, Communications & Fundraising, NKF and Mr Muhammad Ehsan Rana, Head of School of Computing, APU. Mr Gurpardeep Singh, Vice President, Operations at APU presented tokens of appreciation to the representatives of both organizations.
 
NKF also announced “Kidney Rescue” as its first-ever mobile game application right after it emerged the winning entry in the competition.

 
Message of Mr. Chua Hong Wee, CEO of NKF
“There is a dire need to educate young people on the importance of looking after their kidneys. CKD has serious implications on the quality of one’s life. However, many people, especially young ones, underestimate the severity of kidney disease. Education is key here. This is why we have collaborated with Asia Pacific University, to creatively yet effectively utilize technology to open young minds to the growing prevalence, seriousness and prevention of kidney disease.”
 
National Kidney Foundation of Malaysia
The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) Malaysia is a non-profit charitable organization dedicated to helping Malaysians suffering from end stage kidney failure who lack access to or cannot afford dialysis treatment. NKF currently has over 1,600 dialysis patients receiving subsidized dialysis treatment in our 28 dialysis centres nationwide. For more information on CKD and National Kidney Foundation Malaysia (NKF), please visit http://www.nkf.org.my or call 03-7954 9048.

In 2015, the Wishing Well Coin Donation Device was designed and built by a group of Engineering students from the IEM-APU Student Section (IASS). Since then, APU staff and students have been generously contributing coins and bank notes to the Wishing Well, that climbed up to 3 levels.

2016 was a fruitful year for the Wishing Well; at the end of 2016 - a thorough calculation took place, and it was found that a total donation of RM 1,615.00 was collected throughout the year! 

All proceeds went to the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) Malaysia. A simple yet meaningful hand-over ceremony was held, in which the Dean of Faculty of Computing, Engineering & Technology (FCET), Prof. Dr. Ir. Vinesh Thiruchelvam handed over the funds to NKF representative, Ms. Stephanie Wee, under the witness of Dr. Thang Ka Fei, Dr. Chen Tet Khuan and Mr. Jacob Sow.    

On behalf of the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) Malaysia and the committee, we would like to thank all donors for your love and generosity channelled towards the underprivileged kidney patients and their families. Special thanks to all student volunteers who contributed time and effort in developing, installing and improvising the Wishing Well Coin Donation Device, as listed below:

Please continue your donations to NKF in support of improving the lives of kidney patients and their families, as well as the operations of the kidney dialysis centres. Your generosity and contributions will be highly appreciated.