She caught it while shopping for her employers at Amoy Gardens. Then, fearing infection, they fired her while she was in hospital An Indonesian domestic helper flew home last night after being sacked by her employers for catching Sars while running an errand for the family. The 21-year-old woman, who gave her name as Sara, had been buying bread for her employers' breakfast in late March at a supermarket in Amoy Gardens when a female shopper coughed on her. Within days, she was feverish, coughing and had a terrible headache. A private doctor who saw her said she did not have Sars and sent her home with some medication. Sara said the doctor took X-rays but did not find signs of pneumonia. She remained sick for the next five days but still took care of the family's two-year-old child before she was sent to Princess Margaret Hospital on March 31, she said. 'My employers terminated my contract while I was in hospital. My male boss called me up to say: 'If you get better, go home to Indonesia'. He was afraid I might pass Sars on to them.' The family was Sara's first employer since she arrived in Hong Kong four months ago. No one else in the household was infected. Amoy Gardens, where the woman lived with her employers, was at the centre of Hong Kong's biggest Sars outbreak, with 321 residents falling sick. A whole block was sealed off to contain the spread, which was later traced to a faulty sewerage system. Sara spent more than a month in hospital and in a convalescent home before being sent to a holiday camp in Sai Kung for a 10-day isolation period. She said her employers had told her recruitment agency that they would pay her two months' salary and the cost of her air ticket and hospital fees. Sara said her employers had treated her well before the incident and that she was being paid the legal minimum salary of $3,670 a month. 'It is unfair of them to dismiss me, though, because I would have liked to stay on and work in Hong Kong.'' While in hospital, she said she was scared of what might happen to her. 'I was afraid. I thought I would die,'' she said. But the antiviral drugs given to her worked and she did not require intensive care. Sara is no longer on medication since being discharged. As she packed her belongings for her flight home to Surabaya yesterday, Sara said she would try to look for another employer in Hong Kong from Indonesia. 'I will wait until I'm completely better first, though,' she said. Eni Lestari, chairwoman of the Association of Indonesian Migrant Workers in Hong Kong, said she was outraged at the way employers treated Sars victims. She said she knew of another Indonesian worker who was infected after her boss sent her to hospital regularly to pass things to her husband, who had Sars. She left after ending her contract but fell ill shortly after. She is now in isolation and seeking compensation. Last week foreign domestic helpers staged a protest against employers who have forced them to stay at home on Sundays with no extra compensation for fear they might contract Sars.