Sonder - Your Local Health News - Jan/Feb 2020

Dr Jaya Pathi retires after 46 years of
service in Adelaide’s north
After fifty-two years practising medicine, 46 years
of that at the same premises at Elizabeth North,
Dr Jaya Pathi, hangs up her stethoscope. Besides
being the longest serving GP in the northern
metropolitan area, she has been the only woman
solo practitioner in the area for over forty years
Jaya obtained her MBBS from the Osmania
University in Hyderabad (India) in 1967 and started
working in a public hospital and, at the same time,
pursuing her Masters in Paediatrics. Soon after
obtaining her MD, she along with her journalist
husband, arrived in Whyalla on a Friday in 1972 and
was offered a GP position the following Monday
in a group practice. “That is the only full weekend I
ever had,” she says in a matter of fact way. After a
year, she moved to Adelaide and bought a practice
that has been her workplace ever since.
In the 70s, the local Lyell McEwin Hospital’s after
hours emergency section was served by private
practitioners working in the surrounding suburbs.
Besides working in her own practice during the
week, Jaya worked at the hospital on Sundays, thus
toiling seven days a week in the first three years
of her Australian working life. She also assisted
surgeons at operating theatres and delivered
babies for her patients until more staff doctors
were appointed at the hospital. Some of the babies
she helped to deliver are now her middle-aged
patients and a few families are third and fourth
generation patients with two families stretching to
five generations.
Jaya was honoured by the Adelaide Northern
Division of General Practice (ANDGP) for providing
continuous medical service for over four decades
to the local community. She served as a Director on
the Governing Board of ANDGP for two terms.
Recalling her venturing into start her own practice
in a new country, Dr Pathi said it was a bold move.
“The practice operated on a part-time basis and
was run down. So I had to work hard to build it up
and the absence of a woman doctor around the
area helped in a way….I was wondering how a
sari-clad Indian woman doctor would be received.
I have been coming to work in sari from day one.
Maybe it worked as a novelty then. Now my sari is
a talking point for some patients who comment on
it whenever I wear a new one.”
Like any GP, Dr Pathi has many memorable
incidents and the one that stands out is this. “A fine
lady who was my patient from day one turned 100
years old and at the celebration I was asked to sit
next to her on the high table.”
Dr Pathi’s dedication, legacy and commitment to
service delivery in Adelaide’s north will always be
remembered.