Thirunavuk Arasu Sinnathuray, better known as T.A. Sinnathuray, was a Singaporean/Malaysian obstetrician and gynaecologist of Sri Lankan Tamil descent. He was the first Singapore or Malaysian doctor to possess both the diplomas of MRCOG and the FRCS.
Career
He practised as an obstetrician at Kandang Kerbau Hospital. He was Honorary Secretary of the Singapore Medical Association in 1966/67. He delivered the 4th Galloway Memorial Lecture on Amniotomy in the Treatment of Placental Insufficiency Syndrome in 1964. Sinnathuray was appointed Professor and Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at University Malaya in 1970 and remained in office till 1986. The department gained full accreditation by the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, United Kingdom in 1970, the first Malaysian unit to be so recognised. Sinnathuray headed a team of twelve specialists who successfully performed the first intrauterine transfusion in Southeast Asia in early 1970. In 1980, Sinnathuray was appointed Dean of the University Malaya medical school. He was a prolific researcher with over 60 scientific publications in indexed medical journals in an era that predated the internet or evidence-based medicine. In 1982, Sinnathuray was appointed Vice-Chairman of the 7th session of the Regional Western Pacific Advisory Committee on Medical Research at the World Health Organization and in 1985 Sinnathuray became the first academic from an ASEAN university to be invited as an external examiner to Australia. He was President of the Obstetrical and Gynaecological Society of Malaysia in 1971/72.
Personal life
He studied at Raffles Institution and graduated from the University Malaya in 1956. Sinnathuray married twice. He died in 1997 from chronic diabetes-related cardiovascular disease. He is survived by two sons from his first marriage, both British/Irish trained doctors; a paediatrician and an otorhinolaryngologist . T.A.Sinnathuray and pioneering anaesthesiologist T.Sachithanandan were brothers-in-law. His elder brother is retired Singapore judge T. S. Sinnathuray.
Recognition
Sinnathuray was knighted by the 5th Yang di-Pertua of Penang, His Excellency Tun Awang Hassan when he was conferred the Darjah Setia Pangkuan Negeri in 1985. The TA Sinnathuray Academic Award in Obstetrics and Gynaecology was inaugurated in 2005 in his memory and is awarded to the First Prize Medallist in the final Masters examination in Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
