THRISSUR: A social media post about a person who flew out of the country with high-temperature costs this doctor from Kerala her job. Dr Shinu Syamalan alleges that she lost her job at a private clinic in Thalikkulam in Thrissur district for reporting a suspected coronavirus case to the Health Department and police before writing about the same on social media.
Dr Shinu, who has a huge number of followers on social media, said she never revealed either the name of the patient or the clinic in her Facebook post.
She had posted that a person who returned from Qatar with high temperature roamed around his home town and later took a flight to Agra. She alleged that the person came to her with high temperature but hid his travel history. The doctor grew suspicious of the man's behaviour after his wife gave an answer contradicting her husband when asked about his date of arrival from the Gulf country.
The man is now reportedly back at Qatar and it is unknown if he has COVID-19 or not. She added that when asked when did the person left the country, a relative replied February 28, before correcting it as January 28. Shinu had traced him back and talked to the person's brother in law, who said that the man was under observation in Qatar.
"I shared the post just because I don't want anyone to repeat such foolishness. Before sharing about the incident, I had reported it to the health authorities in the district, but nothing could be done as he already left," she said.
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Dr Shinu added that the clinic terminated her saying that people would not visit the place since she opened up about the incident.
"This is not a matter to be hushed and concealed like my former boss wanted me to do. It is selfish to think that people will stop coming to the clinic if that man really had coronavirus. I was just doing my duty. There was nothing wrong in what I said and will do the same again," Shinu wrote on Facebook on Tuesday.
Shinu said that she would not go back to the clinic again and would decide on the future after consulting her family. Her husband works in a government hospital in Thrissur.
(With ENS inputs)