Malaysian-born doctor hailed for halting South Australia COVID outbreak

ADELAIDE: A Malaysian-born doctor was hailed a hero for halting what could have been a second wave of COVID-19 outbreak in South Australia.

According to news.com.au, Dr Dharminy Thurairatnam, who works at Lyell McEwin Hospital, was put in charge of caring for a woman in her 80s on November 13.

Dr Dharminy said she looked through the record to check on the illnesses the woman who was having breathing problems and was triggered to do a coronavirus test on the patient when she started coughing.

The woman, mother of an Adelaide medi-hotel cleaner working, was found to have tested positive for coronavirus hours later, prompting a public health response led to the entire state put into lockdown. More than 4,000 close contacts were ordered into quarantine.

There were more than 100 close contacts in the emergency department at Lyell McEwin Hospital that night including Dr Dharminy who is being quarantined at The Playford Adelaide medi-hotel.

Dr Dharminy, in her 30s, has tested negative for COVID-19 twice. She reportedly had a sore throat and runny nose.

Dr Dharminy, who hails from Klang, moved to Adelaide late last year to continue her medical career, has been praised by South Australia’s Chief Public Health Officer Nicola Spurrier and other top health professionals for her swift action that stopped a potentially deadly second wave of coronavirus.

The young doctor practised medicine in Penang before working in Singapore as a doctor prior to moving to Adelaide. Her husband who works in a hospital in Singapore and their two children are still living in Singapore. She has not seen them since March due to the pandemic.

It has been more than seven months since a locally transmitted COVID-19 case had been reported in South Australia,