S'pore doctor dies at Melbourne ice-skating
rink
She had spent 'quality time' with family before death
By Ng Wan Ching
June 13, 2008
A YOUNG Singaporean doctor collapsed and died on 6 Jun in
Melbourne.
Dr Nishal Kaur Bhullar, 25, was ice-skating with some friends.
When she went to the side of the rink for a rest, she
collapsed.
Her father, Dr Pritam Singh, a well-known gynaecologist and
gynaecologic oncologist here, told The New Paper that, so far, the
pathologist could not tell the family why his daughter died.
Dr Bhullar, who graduated from the University of Melbourne
one-and-a-half years ago, had been working as a medical officer at
the Western Hospital in Footscray, a suburb 20 minutes west of
Melbourne.
Said her sister, Miss Shireen Kaur Bhullar, 20, who is studying
for an arts degree in the same university: 'She loved her job. She
had always wanted to be a doctor. She was inspired by our
father.'
The sisters were very close.
Miss Bhullar, who is in her second year of university, lived
five minutes away from her sister in the Parkville suburb.
Both sisters had attended CHIJ. Dr Bhullar went on to Victoria
Junior College before going to Melbourne for her medical
degree.
Miss Bhullar left Singapore after her O levels to study first in
Adelaide and then in Melbourne.
'During the years when we lived apart, we used to rack up huge
phone bills. We would call each other three to four times a week
and talk for an hour each time,' she said.
She got a call from her sister's friends on Friday night saying
that Dr Bhullar had collapsed.
'They asked me for the telephone numbers of my parents and aunt
who lives in Melbourne and asked if it would be all right for them
to call. I said 'yes'. Then they told me to go straight to the
hospital,' she said.
An ambulance had sent her sister to the Royal Melbourne
Hospital.
When she got to the hospital, her aunt, who is her mother's
elder sister, was already there.
'They called at about 8pm. I was with a friend and I just
dropped everything and rushed to the hospital. By the time I got
there, she had passed away,' she said, sounding calm.
One thing that gives her and her family some peace is that Dr
Bhullar had spent a lot of quality time with their parents before
she died.
Early last month, she surprised her parents with a visit home
for 10 days.
'She had asked me if I wanted to go with her, but I couldn't as
I had study commitments,' said Miss Bhullar.
During the trip home, her sister went with her parents for a
cousin's engagement in Malaysia.
MET RELATIVES
'It was a two-day trip and she managed to meet up with a lot of
our relatives,' said Miss Bhullar.
Then in the later part of May, their parents visited
Melbourne.
'My mother stayed for two weeks and my father came for a week,'
said Miss Bhullar.
Dr Singh, who appeared calm during the wake for his daughter
last night, said: 'My daughter had zero health issues. She was
healthy and fine until the day she collapsed. She was a very
special girl.'
At an earlier memorial service, Miss Bhullar was struck by how
many people thought her sister was special.
'They said she always had a smile on her face, was fun-loving,
always lent a hand to someone in need. My sister had this ability
to be very welcoming to people. She had the gift of understanding,'
she said.
Many people turned up at the wake in the family home in Upper
Bukit Timah last night.
Said Miss Bhullar: 'My sister was a much loved person. And we
will get through this.'