Biloela family says daughter Tharnicaa, 3, sent from Christmas Island to Perth hospital

A Queensland-born daughter of a Tamil family seeking asylum has been flown from Christmas Island to the mainland with suspected septicaemia, but it took 10 days of high fevers and vomiting before authorities took her in.

The youngest daughter in a Tamil family seeking Australian asylum has been medically evacuated from Christmas Island to a Perth hospital after suffering a suspected blood infection.

Tharnicaa Murugappan, a three-year-old child whose family has become known as the Biloela family - in reference to the Queensland town where they lived before being detained on Christmas Island - was medically evacuated on Monday and accompanied by her mother.

Family advocates said in a statement posted to Twitter the girl had been sick for about two weeks, suffering fevers, vomiting and dizziness.

Despite ongoing requests from her mother, Priya Murugappan, since May 25 – when the three-year-old ran a fever – detention centre staff allegedly refused to take Tharnicaa to hospital on the island until Sunday.

It is believed Tharnicaa has septicaemia.

BREAKING: Tharnicaa (nearly 4 years old) is being medically evacuated to Perth for treatment of a suspected blood infection. She was hospitalised yesterday on CI after suffering a high fever, vomiting/diarrhoea & dizziness for 10 days. Pls keep our little cockatoo in your hearts. pic.twitter.com/ynnT5uNQIh

— HometoBilo (@HometoBilo) June 7, 2021

“I’m feeling very scared and worried for my little girl,” Me Murugappan said in the statement.

“She has been sick for many days, it took a long time for her to get to the hospital.

“She is already asking for her papa, it is going to be very hard being away from her dad and sister. It is very hard for our family to be separated when our daughter is sick.”

The statement said Ms Murugappan first asked for medical attention for her daughter on May 25 when the girl ran a fever, but that she only received over-the-counter painkillers.

Ms Murugappan said she was also handed a piece of paper “that explained common flu symptoms”.

A pair of pictures showed the three-year-old crying in a hospital bed while her sister Kopika comforted her with a kiss on the cheek.

Tharnicaa Murugappan, almost four, has been medically evacuated from Christmas Island.

In a statement, the Greens Immigration spokesman, Nick McKim, said the Murugappan “family’s treatment has been appalling and disgraceful”.

“They have been exiled to a remote island, and detained indefinitely, having built a life for themselves in Queensland,” he said.

“Physical and mental health problems have always gone hand-in-hand with offshore detention – and yet their detention continues.

“It is beyond unconscionable that they would be sent back to Christmas Island.

“They must be resettled in our community urgently, before any more damage is done.”

Priya and her husband Nades came to Australia by boat in 2012 and 2013, respectively, and made a life for themselves in Biloela where Tharnicaa and her sister Kopika were born.

Though both girls were born in Queensland, the Federal court ruled that they were considered “unauthorised maritime arrivals” under Australian law, the same status assigned to their parents.

The youngest daughter in a Tamil family seeking Australian asylum has been medically evacuated from Christmas Island. Picture: Ten News

In March 2018 the family were taken into detention after they were denied a visa which would allow them to stay in Australia.

In August 2019 they were transferred to Christmas Island.

They have fought to remain in Australia and Biloela ever since.

The Biloela community started the #HomeToBilo campaign which went national, calling on the government to allow the family to live in the community that has embraced them.