Category: Doctor

He posted an album “My other family”.
Some pictures of his former colleagues and students are presented.

Farewell Dhamma Talk for co-founder of Aye-Thet Scholarship

by Ashin Osadha

အေး+သက်မိခင်ကြီးအတွက် နောက်ဆုံး နှုတ်ဆက်တရား

မနေ့က မနက်ပိုင်းမှာ မကျန်းမာတာ ကြာပြီဖြစ်တဲ့ ဒကာမကြီး ဒေါက်တာ ဒေါ်ခင်ညိုသက်ဆီ သွားပြီး ပရိတ်ရွတ်ပါတယ်။ ပြီးခဲ့တဲ့ ၂-ရက်လောက်က တယ်လို့ ပင့်ထားတာပါ။ ဒကာမကြီးနဲ့ ကျုပ်က ပုဂ္ဂိုလ်ရေး ရင်းနှီးမှုရှိသလို သူသိချင်တဲ့ တရားတွေကိုလဲ မေးလေ့ရှိပါတယ်။

တကယ်တော့ ဒေါက်တာလင်းဆွေအေးနဲ့ ‌ဒေါက်တာ ဒေါ်ခင်ညိုသက်တို့ လင်မယားက ကျုပ်အမေရိကားရောက်ပြီး သိပ်မကြာခင်မှာ စတင် ရင်းနှီးခွင့် ရခဲ့ပါတယ်။ အကြောင်းကတော့ ကျုပ်က နွေရာသီမှာ ကလေးတွေ စာသင်ပေးလို့ပါ။

ဆရာတော် ဦးသီလာနန္ဒက ၁၉၇၉-မှာ အမေရိကားကို ရောက်ပါတယ်။ ရောက်ခါစမှာ ဆရာတော်က လူကြီးတွေအတွက်ပဲ တရားဟော, တရားပြ လုပ်နိုင်ပါတယ်။ ကလေးတွေကို မသင်နိုင်သေးပါဘူး။ ဒီတော့ မြန်မာမိသားစုတွေက မွေးတဲ့ ကလေး တွေဟာ ဗုဒ္ဓဘာသာနဲ့ ဝေးကုန်ပါတယ်။ ဒီကလေးတွေ အနာဂတ်မှာ ဘာသာတရားနဲ့ ဝေးသွားမှာကို သူတို့ ဇနီးမောင်နှံက စိုးရိမ်မိကြပါတယ်။ ဒါနဲ့ သူတို့က “အေး+သက်ဖေါင်ဒေးရှင်း”ဆိုပြီး တည်ထောင်ကာ ငွေများမ,တည် လှုဒါန်းခဲ့ပါတယ်။ အဲသလို အေး+သက်ဖေါင်ဒေးရှင်းကို စတင်တည်ထောင်သူမို့ “အေး+သက်မိခင်ကြီး”လို့ ခေါ်လိုက်တာပါ။ သူတို့တည်ထောင် ခဲ့တဲ့ နွေရာသီ ဗုဒ္ဓဘာသာ သင်တန်းကိုတော့ ၁၉၉၁-ခုနှစ်မှာ စတင်ခဲ့ပါတယ်။ ဒါက သမိုင်းကြောင်းလေး စပ်မိလို့ ပြောလိုက် တာပါ။

နေမကောင်းတာ ကြာပြီဆိုတော့ ဒကာမကြီးဟာ အိပ်ရာပေါ်မှာ လဲနေလိမ့်မယ်လို့ ထင်ခဲ့တာပါ။ အိမ်ရောက်တော့ ဧည့်ခန်းမှာ မျက်နှာကြည်ကြည်လင်လင်နဲ့ ထိုင်နေတာ တွေ့ရလို့ ကျုပ် အံ့သြသွားတယ်။ တကယ်တော့ ဒကာမကြီးက ကင်ဆာရောဂါ ၃-ကြိမ် ဖြစ်ထားတာပါ။ ဒါကြောင့် ကျုပ်နဲ့တွေ့တိုင်း “တပည့်တော်က သေရွာပြန်ဘုရာ့”လို့ အမြဲတမ်း ပြောပါတယ်။ အဲ… ဒါပေမဲ့ အခုတခါတော့ သူ့ကိုယ်သူလဲ သိနေသလိုပဲဗျ။ ဘေးနားက သူ့သားသမီးတွေကလဲ မျက်နှာ မကောင်းကြဘူး။ ကြိုသိနေပုံပါဘဲ။ အနည်းငယ် စကားပြောပြီးတော့ သီလပေးကာ ဗောဇ္စျင်သုတ်နဲ့ ပရိတ်တော်များ ရွတ်ဖတ်ပေးပါတယ်။ ပြီးတော့ အချိန်အခါနဲ့ သင့်တော်မဲ့ နကုလပိတာ ဒကာကြီးကို ဘုရားဟောတဲ့ “ကိုယ်သာ နာစေ, စိတ် မနာစေနဲ့”ဆိုတဲ့ တရားလေးကို အကျယ်ချဲ့ပြီး ဟောပေးပါတယ်။ အခုချိန်ဟာ လက်ရှိဘဝခန္ဓာလဲ မတွယ်တာအောင်, နာကျင်မှုကြောင့်လဲ ဒေါသမဖြစ်အောင် တရားနှလုံးသွင်းတတ်ဖို့ လိုကြောင်း၊ တွယ်တာမှု တဏှာနဲ့ အလိုမကျမှု ဒေါမနဿက လွတ်အောင် နှလုံးသွင်းနိုင်ရင် စိတ်ဟာ အစွန်းနှစ်ဖက်က လွတ်မြောက်သွားကြောင်း၊ ဒါကိုပဲ မဇ္စျိမပဋိပဒါကျင့်စဉ်ဟု ခေါ်ကြောင်း၊ မဇ္စျိမကျင့်စဉ်ဆိုတာမဂ္ဂင်လမ်းပင်ဖြစ်ကြောင်း၊ မဂ္ဂင်လမ်းဆိုတာ ချုပ်ငြိမ်းမှု နိရောဓကို ဦးတည်နေကြောင်း… စသဖြင့် တရားရေအေးနဲ့ သောကအပူတွေ တခဏလောက်ပဲ ငြိမ်းစေတော့ဆိုပြီး ဟောပြပေးလိုက်ပါတယ်။

တရားနာပြီး သူကိုယ်တိုင် ရေစက်ချ, အမျှဝေပါတယ်။ မြတ်စွာဘုရားက နကုလပိတာ ဒကာကြီးကို တရားတိုလေး ဟောလိုက်တုန်းကလဲ ဒကာကြီးဟာ စိတ်တွေ ပေါ့ပါး သွက်လက်ပြီး မျက်နှာတွေ ကြည်လင်တောက်ပ လာပါသတဲ့။ အဲသလိုပါဘဲ။ ဒကာမကြီးလဲ သူလုပ်ချင်တာလေးကိုလဲ လုပ်လိုက်ရပြီ၊ သူတွေ့ချင်တဲ့ သူနဲ့လဲ တွေ့လိုက်ရပြီ။ သူ့အတွက် အားဆေးတစ်ခွက် ဖြစ်စေမဲ့ တရားလေးလဲ နာလိုက်ရပြီ။ အဲဒါကြောင့်ပဲ စိတ်ရဲ့ ဖိစီးမှုတွေကနေ လွတ်မြောက်ကာ, ကိုယ်ရဲ့ နာကျင်မှုတွေလဲ တဒင်္ဂ ချုပ်ငြိမ်းနေပုံ ရပါတယ်။ တရားဟောပြီးတော့ သူ့မျက်နှာဟာ တိမ်စင်လပမာ သိသိသာသာ ကြည်လင်လာတာကို သတိထားလိုက် မိပါတယ်။ တရားဟောပြီးတော့ သူ့ကို အားပေး, နှုတ်ဆက်ခါ ကျောင်းကို ပြန်လာခဲ့ပါတယ်။

အဲ…. ဒါပေမဲ့၊ အခု နှုတ်ဆက်လိုက်တာဟာ ကျုပ်အတွက် နောက်ဆုံး နှုတ်ဆက်လိုက်ခြင်း ဆိုတာကိုတော့ မသိလိုက်မိဘူးဗျ။ သူ့ကို လာရောက်အားပေးကြတဲ့ ထဲမှာ ကျုပ်ဟာ နောက်ဆုံးလူတစ်ယောက် ဖြစ်နေလိမ့်မယ် ဆိုတာကိုလဲ မစဉ်းစားမိ ဘူးဗျ။ သူတွေ့ချင်တဲ့ သူ….
သူလုပ်ချင်တဲ့ အလှု….
သူနာချင်တဲ့ တရား…
ဒါလေးတွေကို သူကိုယ်တိုင် လုပ်ခွင့်ရလိုက်ပြီ ဆိုတော့ စိတ်လျှော့လိုက်ပုံ ပေါက်ပါတယ်။

ညနေခင်းဘက်ရောက်တော့ ဒကာကြီး ဒေါက်တာလင်းဆွေအေးဆီက ဖုန်းဆက်လာတယ်… “အရှင်ဘုရား ပြန်ကြွပြီး သိပ်မကြာခင် နေ့လည်ခင်းမှာတော့ ဒကာမကြီး ငြိမ်သက်စွာနဲ့ ဆုံးသွားပါပြီ ဘုရား”လို့ ဖုန်းဆက်လာပါတယ်။

ဒကာမကြီးအတွက် နောက်ဆုံး နှုတ်ဆက်တရားလေး ကျေးဇူး ဆပ်လိုက်ရလို့ ကျုပ်တော့ အတော်လေး ကျေနပ်မိပါတယ်။ သူလဲ ဒီကုသိုလ်စိတ်ကြောင့်ပဲ ကောင်းမွန်ရာ သုဂတိဘုံမှာ ရှိနေလိမ့်မယ်လို့ ယုံကြည်မိပါသဗျ။ဓမ္မာနန္ဒကျောင်းမှာ အေး+သက်ဖေါင်း‌ဒေးရှင်းကို စတင်တည်ထောင်ခဲ့တဲ့ ဒကာမကြီး ဒေါက်တာ ဒေါ်ခင်ညိုသက်, မြင့်မြတ်တဲ့ဘဝမှာ ဆက်လက်ကာ သာသနာ ပြုနိုင်ပါစေ…

အရှင်သြသဓ
မေလ ၄-ရက်၊ ၂၀၂၁-ခုနှစ်။

Condolences from TBSA

Dear Aye Family,

On behalf of TBSA, please allow me to offer our condolences to you and your family on the passing of our inspirational woman, founder of Aye-Thet Scholarship Program, Dr. Khin Nyo Thet.

I was privileged to meet her occasionally and had a great time socializing with her. She was an amazing woman. Not only she was admired by me but many other people. Every time I met her, she offered me positive energy with encouraging words, her willpower with positive energy was way above many of us. Most importantly, she was a wonderful mom who can see the benefit of youth learning Theravada Buddhism is vital to our USA-born kids.

Thank you! Ma Ma Nyo. Thank you!

Many words I can add about her endlessly. I will miss her dearly.Please allow us to send you all our condolences, along with the best memories and sharing of our good deeds to her. May she rest in a better stage of being…

May she be on the path of Nirvana…
We share all our merit dedicated to her.
Sadhu…Sadhu…Sadhu….

With best regards,
Daniel Bomya (U Thein Swe, President of TBSA)

Sad News

Dr. Khin Nyo Thet passed away peacefully, at her home in the San Francisco Bay Area, surrounded by her husband, Dr. Lyn Swe Aye, and her children, Mimi Thabyay Aye and Thor Wynn Aye, on May 3rd, 2021.

Born in Rangoon, Burma on Sept. 17, 1946 to Dr. Kyaw Thet and Daw Khin Khin Gyi, she is survived by her brother, Dr. Lyn Aung Thet – (Dr Khin Mae Hla) and predeceased by her elder brother, Lyn Maung Thet, and younger sister, Khin Aye Thet.

She grew up and was educated in Rangoon, with an interlude in the USA while her parents completed their postgraduate studies at Yale.She graduated from the Institute of Medicine II, Rangoon, and immigrated to the USA, where she specialized in Pediatrics.

She established a private medical practice in San Jose, California where over several decades, she enjoyed nurturing relationships with generations of patients. Fearless, honest, warm and generous, as a teenager she sang in a girl group on the radio, and she loved to light up the dance floor. She took up competitive tennis, and later pickle ball, leading her teams on to victory. She also loved hosting bridge and mahjong groups.

She helped many people, both professionally and privately. With her husband, she founded the Aye-Thet Scholarship Fund which sponsors an annual summer camp for children, focusing on Buddhism and Meditation at the Dhammananda Theravada Monastery in Half Moon Bay, California.

Given current size limitations on gatherings, a family-only service will be held at Skylawn Cemetery in San Mateo. A memorial service may be held at a future date. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the

Theravada Buddhist Society of America
(Aye-Thet Scholarship Fund),
17450 S. Cabrillo Hwy.
Half Moon Bay,
CA 94019

Tribute by Thor Wynn Aye

**Khin Nyo Thet passed away peacefully, surrounded by her husband, Lyn Swe Aye and her children Mimi Thabyay Aye and Thor Wynn Aye on May 3rd, 2021 in Foster City, California.**

We’re coming to the end now. We’ve said our I love you’s and have started saying our goodbyes, or if you like, our farewells and until-next-times.

But while I have you, let me say thank you for all your love, attention, lessons learned and patience along the way. Thank you for fighting all these long years to stay alive.

Cancer three times in one life? It just doesn’t seem fair. And well it’s not.

You’re a good person who has spent her life in the service of others. A caretaker and healer of our youth, as a pediatrician. A dedicated, dutiful daughter who sacrificed to care for her mother, no matter the cost. A leader and the center of our Burmese community, helping recent immigrants find work, help, housing and most importantly a connection to their community. You were the mom on the block that gave all my friends hugs, kisses, meals, rides and love. Everybody loved you. And how could they not? We were so lucky to have you.

You’re the most important person in my life. I cannot imagine a world, my world without you.

But in the same breath, I see how much pain and suffering you’ve already endured. I can see your energy draining and see that the things that once brought you happiness, are now belabored and joyless.

I’ll miss your brutally honest feedback, your big warm hugs, your delicious cooking but more than anything, I’ll miss your Unconditional love. No matter what I did, where we were or how long we’d been apart, I knew you’d be thinking about me and missing me too. You’d always support and love me, with no strings attached. I’ve been so blessed to have you in my life.

But Mom, if you’re ready to go. I’m ready to let you.

I’ll miss you every day for the rest of my life. Go in peace and with our love and blessings.

You’ll always be in my heart. I love you.

March 16, 2021

By Dr. Khin Mae Hla

Ma Ma Shirley and Ko Robert brought home cooked gourmet dinner to Ko Swe Aye and Ma Nyo’s house for Lyn Aung’s birthday celebration: yummy whole duck roast, French onion soup, ravioli pasta, steamed crab, shrimp scampi, and chocolate cake from the famous Ettores bakery.

After this most scrumptious lunch we all went to Bayshore park for a stroll and did some bird watching along the shore of the bay. The tide was up so not as many shorebirds were seen like on the previous evening we went by ourselves when there were so many feeding in the flats at low tide.

My favorite love duet was sung by Ko Swe Aye and Ma Nyo.

From Dr. Lyn Swe Aye

Thank you to all our friends for your unfailing support through the hard times, your kind words and condolences. Friday, when we laid our beloved Nyo to rest, was a sunny day. We had a quiet ceremony. In her life, she found joy and gave joy. Now, peace.

Messages

Desiree Tin :

Lynston, You are such a wonderful husband and so Nyo Nyo found joy and give joy. I’m sure she is resting in peace at a higher abode now. Sharing the merits of the good deeds on her behalf.

Bo Zaw Win :

Thadu Thadu Thadu

Yasmin Vanya :

My thoughts and prayers with you all during this sad time. Her kindness, generosity and beautiful smile will never be forgotten! Please take care Ko Swe Aye.

Peggy Nut :

Thank you to you, Mi Mi and Thor for the tireless care, love, etc you all provided through hard times. It was a joy to see Ma Ma Nyo smiling on the family trips. She is an exceptional human being for all that she did in her life. Everyone will remember MMN and miss her. We are glad that Mi Mi and Thor are living in same State to comfort you. Plus all your wonderful friends are in California are reachable.

Thethar M Thwe :

My warm thoughts are with you Uncle Swe Aye, MiMi and Thor, as you are passing through this difficult time. Please let me know if there is anything I can do.

Yin Mar :

Please take good care of yourself Uncle Aye. It has been a tough week for you. Auntie is an exceptional person and she will be missed by many. May her spirit rest in peace and may she be somewhere in this universe or at a “Kaung Ya Bone Yauk Ba Ze”. My thoughts and good wishes to you and your family.

Alison Hong Freeman :

Nyo was a special woman! We loved spending time with her. Sending our love to you, Mimi and Thor.

Mra Tun :

May she Rest In Peace.

Richard Myint :

Our thoughts and prayers have been with you and your family for the past week or so. Life will go on. Stay strong!

Winsome Tun :

She gave so much love and joy to family and friends close to her and she deserve peace in a higher abode. Thiri and I donated to the nunnery as well as to 25 old folks living on my Mingaladon estate, rice, oil, milk packets, cookies for Ma Ma yesterday. We already miss her dearly. I would like you, Thapyae and Thor to know that You can count on us whenever you need anything. Please treat us as part of your family.

Ye Hla :

Just as family and friends joyfully welcome home, loved one returns afar, their own good deeds welcome those that have performed them as they go from this life to the next! Dhammapada 220

She used to follow my post on Dhamma
Birth and rebirth endless rounds, seeking in vain I hastened on find who framed this edifice Birth incessantly! What a misery
အနေဂဇာတင်ဂါထာ

Than Than Hman :

My heartfelt condolences to Ko Swe Aye, Thor n Thabyay. May God bless you all with peace and comfort.

Marshall Moran :

Lyn, so sorry for your loss.

Sherlie Bwa :

Please take good care of yourself, Ko Swe Aye. We will get-together. We all love you.

Lay Khine :

No words can describe how sorry I am for your loss.
Pleas Accept my Deepest Sympathy.

Alvin Oak Soe Kha :

Ma Ma Nyo will be very sadly missed. May Ma Nyo Rest in Peace. Full respect from me, Ko Swe Aye for being a dutiful, loving and supportive husband to Ma Nyo throughout the years.

Cynthia Tin :

Ma Nyo had meaningful life. Have no words how much I’m sad. Also no words to say how much I thank both of you.

Merrylin Zaw-Mon :

You are so right. She was a very special person that emanated joy and shared it with everyone. That’s why she was loved by many and will be forever missed. I am so grateful I got to spend precious time with you and her. It was a precious gift she left me with. Thinking of you and hope to see you in the near future.

Ye Gaung :

Our deepest condolences and thoughts are with you all for your loss! She was our big sister to our family and will be in our memory forever. May she R.I.P.!

Yi Yi Myint Rossiter :

Rest in Peace my dear Ma Nyo. I will miss you forever.

Connie Wu :

My condolences to you and your family, she was a warrior and will be missed!!

Aung-Win Chiong :

Dear KSA, Mimi and Thor, we’re thinking and praying for you all. Ma Nyo was a positive, wonderful and lovely person. Nice to see that you all are so close and caring towards one another. We shall always remember the great times we had at your home, singing, dancing filled with laughter and great foods. Love Winnie and Lam Peng

by Hla Min

Updated : May 2025

• On April 13, 2020, Dr. Peter Tun (Khin Tun) passed away.
• He was the first medical doctor in the UK to succumb to COVID-19.
• The sad story — lack of PPE at his ward (despite his requests to provide them) — was aired in the TV stations and covered in the newspapers.

• On April 13, 2021 — the first anniversary of his untimely death — the Royal Berkshire Hospital held a memorial for him and planted a cherry tree at the staff well-being center.
• The cherry tree was his favorite especially because his mother’s name is Dr. Khin Kyi Nyunt (Cherry Tin Gyi).
  
• Dr. Peter Tun (MRCP) served for four years as Associate Dean at Oxford University.
  
• The Royal College of Physicians plan to confer a Fellowship to Dr. Peter Tun posthumously.

An Old post by Dr. Thane Oke Kyaw Myint

With medical graduates, support is given to all doctors 75 years and above, regardless of the person being a teacher or not.

• The late Prof. Daw Myint Myint Khin founded the Support Group for Elderly Doctors (SGED).
• The organisation provided more than health care.
• A Day Care Centre was built so that elderly doctors can come by with not just colleagues of the same age but play board games, have meals etc.
• Transport is also provided from their residences by volunteers.
• It is very heartening that some of the volunteers themselves are over 80. They are our inspiration to emulate them.
• SGED also makes home visit to elderly and unwell colleagues.
• Financial support is now being given monthly now donated by a doctor/Entrepreneur.

• Homage ceremony by the Women Section of the Myanmar Medical Association ceremony is held annually.
• For those who cannot attend because of illness, or otherwise, homage is given at their residences.
  
• There are also homage ceremonies by each batch of doctors at their Annual get-togethers.
  
• The Class of 1993, University of Medicine 1 founded the “Institutes of Medicine Retired Teachers Fund IMRTF” providing financial assistance.

An Old Post by Dr. Nyunt Thein

• Professor Daw Mya Kyi Than (90yr, 10m)
• Professor U Tin Aung Swe (90yr, 2m)
• Professor U Reggie Ba Pe (90yr, 2m)
• Professor U Aung Than Ba Tu (89yr)
• Professor Daw Hnin Yee (89yr)

အခုမှတ်တမ်းမှတ်ရာတွေအရ မိမိတို့ရဲ့ ဆေးပညာမိခင် ဖခင်တွေထဲကသက်ရှိထင်ရှားရှိနေကြသူတွေထဲမှာဆရာမကြီး ပါမောက္ခဒေါ်မြတ်ကြည် သန်းဟာ ( ၉၁) နှစ် ပြည့်ဖို့ (၂) လလိုအသက်အကြီးဆုံးပါ
ပြီးတော့ ဆရာကြီးပါမောက္ခဦးတင် အောင်ဆွေ ( ၉၀ နှစ် ၂လ)
ဆရာကြီးပါ မောက္ခဦးရယ်ဂျီဘဖေလည်း ( ၉၀ နှစ် (၂) လ၊
ပါမောက္ခဆရာကြီး ဦးအောင်သန်းဘတူက ဆရာမကြီးနဲ့ မွေးနေ့တရက်ထဲ မနေ့က (၈၉) ပြည့်
သူတို့ပြီးရင် မမဒေါ်နှင်းရီပါဘဲ ၊ အမျိုးသမီးတွေထဲမှာဒုတိယအကြီးဆုံးပေါ့

Misguided Guidelines and Policies

• 120+ Doctors and Health Care Workers in the UK succumbed to COVID-19.
• An early casualty was Dr. Peter Tun (MRCP, former Associate Dean of Oxford University). He was hailed as one of the “Heroes”, and the Neuro Academy has named an award after him.

• Many family members felt that their loved ones paid a high price behind misguided and rigid Guidelines and Policies.

Unanswered Questions

• How did Covid-19 start?
  From the wet market?
  From eating exotic animals / food?
  From a lab?
  
  Some say that the virus is not man-made.
  Some speculate that the virus could have escaped leading to conspiracy theories.
  The Blame game (by countries and organizations) is still going on.
• Why did the early reports downplay the damaging power of COVID-19?
  
  Initial reports did not mention that the virus can be transmitted by humans. Later reports show how a single infected person can unknowingly spread the virus to masses attending gatherings, taking cruises.
  
  Some said that washing hands is good enough. Others pointed out that the hand is only one source of infection.
  
  Initial reports said that the virus would only attack the respiratory system. Later reports mentioned that the organs and the nervous system could be damaged.
  
  Initial reports did not include symptomatic patients. Some reports counted only deaths of COVID-19 patients in hospitals.
• Why did several countries react slowly to the Pandemic?
  
  Some pointed the fingers to WHO for declaring the Pandemic late.
  Some dismissed the virus as a “Myth” or a “Kind of flu that will go away easily”.
• Why were the front line health workers in some countries not provided with PPE?
  
  Some said the policies were guided not by science, but by the availability of resources. Some guidelines were relaxed too much.
  
  Some said that the policies and guidelines were to save cost (not realizing that the medical equipment may not be easy to purchase or order during a Pandemic).
• The impact on economy
  
  The Bull market disappeared.
  
  Several companies filed for bankruptcy.
  
  Millions became unemployed (furloughed or terminated).
• The impact of social behavior
  
  The levels of isolation varied,
  quarantine / lock-down
  shelter at home / circuit breaker
  self-isolation
  
  Some people cannot even visit their family members and close relatives.
  
  Teleconferencing / virtual meeting to see loved ones for the last time; cannot attend funeral services
  
  On-line teaching / learning needs good Internet connection and devices.
  
  Domestic and international travel
• The safe distance
  
  Most guidelines say 6 feet,
  
  Some experiments show that the virus can travel farther (up to 20 feet)
• Why were asymptomatic cases ignored in the initial reports?
  
  To have good statistical reports
  
  Many that were infected did not display symptoms, but they contributed to the spread of virus.
  
  They could “carry” / “spread” COVID-19 (and not easy to “trace” the 0-person / originator of hot spots)
• Why COVID-19 has different impact on
  
  Men (60% of cases in UK)
  
  Asian and Blacks (were hit more in UK)
  
  Age groups (80 year olds are the hardest hit at first.
  Younger age groups are getting hit.
  Even children (1 to 2 years) are being tested positive,
  
  Nursing home fatalities are high (e.g. in a New Jersey nursing home, 50 of the 80 elders died of COVID-19).
  
  Countries (some “poor” nations fare better than “rich” nations)
  
  Many factors (e.g. genetic make up, health condition, blood type) are being studied, but no conclusive results yet.
• Most new medicine /cure take 5 – 10 years of development, testing and approval
  
  Can a “truly safe” vaccine or a cure be found / developed in a few months?
  
  There is a race to come up with a safe vaccine.
  The stock prices of some bio-tech companies went up.
  Not sure if the cost of the vaccine would be covered (or subsidized).
• Why many “miraculous cures” were promoted by people who have no medical knowledge
  
  Ingesting disinfectants
• Why some do not seem to have compassion
  
  A few politicians say that “economy and liberty” are much more important than the loss of lives (particularly the “seniors”)
• Testing
  
  What is the reliability of test-kits?
  
  What is the consensus on “anti-body testing”?
• Wave
  
  Is the first wave still on?
  
  Is there a resurgence (or second wave) in some places that re-opened early?

• Dr. Thane Oke Kyaw Myint (SPHS60) was the top Paulian in his class, but the Brothers were disappointed when he missed the top five positions by a mark each. He founded the group “Alumni of the Institute of Medicine in Myanmar (Overseas)” and wrote about his mentors and other trail blazers.
  
• Dr. Kyaw Win (Robin Ban, SPHS61) stood 2nd in Burma.
  
• Dr. Khin Maung U (SPHS63) stood 1st in Burma. He was the first student to have almost perfect score in Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics with 299 marks out of the possible 300. Grapevine says that one Chief Examiner gave him 100 and then reluctantly took back a mark.
  Dr. Min Oo (2nd in Burma) pursued a Doctorate in Mathematics.
  Dr. Myo San (Freddie, 3rd, GBNF), Dr. Nyunt Wai (Victor, 4th), Dr. Thein Wai (5th), Dr. Aung Kyaw Zaw (Johnny, 9th), Dr. Khin Maung Zaw (17th) studied Medicine.
  U Hla Min (7th) studied Engineering and Computer Science. U Maung Maung Kyi (11th) studied Dip. Ing in Chemical Engineering (specializing in Pulp and Paper). U Aung Thurein (Brownie, 13th, GBNF) studied Electrical Communications.
  
• Dr. Aung Win Chiong (SPHS64, USA) had the second highest “raw” score behind Dr. Cherry Hlaing and Dr. Lyn Aung Thet. He had a perfect ILA score of 50 and was admitted to IM(2) as Roll Number One. He is now retired. His spouse Dr. Winnie Tan is co-founder of USA Con-Bro Association.
  
• Dr. Winston Sein Maung (3rd in Burma, GBNF), Dr. Yi Thway (UK, 5th in Burma, Roll No (1) for IM1) and Dr. Paing Soe (retired Deputy Minister, Roll No (2)) were among the top students from SPHS65 (the last batch before Nationalization).
  Due to the rules, Bernard Khaw (who stood first in Burma) could not apply for professional studies and then left for USA and Canada.
  Maung Aye (who stood second in Burma) and his twin brother left to study Doctorates in the USA.

The photo was taken in Std VIII (A) in SPHS (St. Paul’s High School).

Many have now retired.

The photo was annotated mainly by Dr. Thane Oke Kyaw Myint with minor revisions by me.

The teachers include Brother Peter, Brother Gerald, U Nyunt Maung and Mr. George Chapman.

Front Row:
Robert Ba Maung (Chief Engineer, Mercantile Marine, now living in Liverpool), Commander Myint Ngwe (Burma Navy DSA 6th. batch), Robert Gale@Khin Maung Oo (BE (EC), Biomedical engineer BPI, now in Charlotte, North Carolina), Dr. Khin Zaw (PhD (Moscow), Retired Rector, Institute of Education, third cousin of TOKM), Wilbert Hoe@Dr. Thein Myint (Senior Ophthalmologist London)

Second Row:
Dr. Harry Kyaw Tun (DDS – Dental Surgeon studied in East Germany but now in united Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall), Dr. Ho Shak Lim (FRCP, Senior Physician Hong Kong), Dr. Kyaw San Win (Retired Medical Superintendent, Yangon Orthopedic Hospital), Dexter@Thaung Lwin (BE (EC), Senior IT Engineer IBM Rangoon & Singapore, Retired, Past Captain and Gold of RUBC), Dr. Myo Aung Khin (Retired Manager, Immunization Programme, Dept. of Health)

Third Row:
Prof. Saw Naing (Professor of Medicine, IM1), Tin Maung Aye (Deputy Director General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, younger brother of Dr. Aye Maung Than, DSMA), Col. Hla Myint@Michael (OTS 31st.batch, Retired Colonel (Infantry) & Chief of Security (Police, Secretariat)), Home Ministry), Dr. Myint Tun@Henry Cho Tun (PhD Birmingham, in Chemistry residing in LA, winner of Matthew Hunter Medal RASU), Prof. Min Lwin (Professor in Orthopedics), Dr. Herbert Liou (Hong Kong)

Fourth Row:
Prof. Than Toe (Rehabilitation & Physical Medicine. RGH), Lt. Cmdr. Aung Shwe (Burma Navy)

Last Row:
Myo Myint (BE (EC), RUBC Gold, Mathematical Genius, Retired from PPIC, elder brother of Dr. Ba Han Texas), Than Htut (BE (Mech), RUBC Gold, Heavy Industries & Defense Industries), Mor Eng Way@Aye Ngwe (Retire d. Senior Radiologist, Former Commander. US Navy, Walter Reed Hospital), Nyunt Tin@ George Chiong (Retired Prof of Paed. Anesthesiology, Chicago – he is the second of four brilliant Chiong brothers, the eldest Chiong Boo Chiong @ Dr. Hla Shwe, Ph.D in Nuclear Physics, College Dean)

U Ba Kyi’s Painting

Dr. Thane Oke Kyaw Myint (SPHS60, IM1 67) had a replica of U Ba Kyi’s painting of Kisagotami in his office in the Children’s Hospital. It helped him in consoling parents who lost their child.

Our Families

Our families were close Dhamma friends and supporters of Dat Poung Zon Aung Min Gaung Pagoda and Mon Sayadaw U Thilawuntha.

He took care of my sons when they were young.

His Writings

He contributed posts about the Seven Siblings

• U Tin Tut
• U Kyaw Myint
• U Myint Thein
• Dr. Htin Aung
• Daw Khin Mya Mu
• Daw Khin Saw Mu
• Daw Tin Saw Mu

He chronicled the Medical pioneers and/or his mentors.

His Book

He acknowledged the success of his colleagues and former students.

He air-mailed me a book (compiled and published by his colleagues and former students) from Australia. The postage cost a lot more than the price of the book.

Sad Loss of Manuscripts

Before U E Maung [Professor of Burmese, University of Rangoon] died, he asked me to bring out exercise books with writings by [my paternal aunt] Daw Khin Mya Mu. In the books were transcript of many “Kyauk sar” and translation into Burmese of hundreds of stone scriptures from all over Burma. When I asked him why they were not published, he told me that no printing press [in those days] have fonts for the ancient writings. [Thus] they were all unpublished.

The sad thing was when Dr. Htin Aung [Rector, University of Rangoon, Ba Dway] left Burma, he had also left not only his books but drafts of books he wanted to finish and publish, mainly in history.

U E Maung donated his house and belongings to Tipitaka Sayadaw. When he passed away Dr. Tha Hla was given the task of selling the property and have as cash donation for Sayadaw. We were not informed but later on when I asked, I was told that except for some books, the handwritten documents were not saved anywhere. Felt very sad about losing the handwritten books.

Only some books were chosen to be donated to the Burmese Department of Rangoon University.

His Classmates from Std. VII(A) in SPHS

The photo was taken in Std VIII (A) in SPHS (St. Paul’s High School).

Many have now retired.

The photo was annotated mainly by Dr. Thane Oke Kyaw Myint with minor revisions by me.

The teachers include Brother Peter, Brother Gerald, U Nyunt Maung and Mr. George Chapman.

Front Row:
Robert Ba Maung (Chief Engineer, Mercantile Marine, now living in Liverpool), Commander Myint Ngwe (Burma Navy DSA 6th. batch), Robert Gale@Khin Maung Oo (BE (EC), Biomedical engineer BPI, now in Charlotte, North Carolina), Dr. Khin Zaw (PhD (Moscow), Retired Rector, Institute of Education, third cousin of TOKM), Wilbert Hoe@Dr. Thein Myint (Senior Ophthalmologist London)

Second Row:
Dr. Harry Kyaw Tun (DDS – Dental Surgeon studied in East Germany but now in united Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall), Dr. Ho Shak Lim (FRCP, Senior Physician Hong Kong), Dr. Kyaw San Win (Retired Medical Superintendent, Yangon Orthopedic Hospital), Dexter@Thaung Lwin (BE (EC), Senior IT Engineer IBM Rangoon & Singapore, Retired, Past Captain and Gold of RUBC), Dr. Myo Aung Khin (Retired Manager, Immunization Programme, Dept. of Health)

Third Row:
Prof. Saw Naing (Professor of Medicine, IM1), Tin Maung Aye (Deputy Director General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, younger brother of Dr. Aye Maung Than, DSMA), Col. Hla Myint@Michael (OTS 31st.batch, Retired Colonel (Infantry) & Chief of Security (Police, Secretariat)), Home Ministry), Dr. Myint Tun@Henry Cho Tun (PhD Birmingham, in Chemistry residing in LA, winner of Matthew Hunter Medal RASU), Prof. Min Lwin (Professor in Orthopedics), Dr. Herbert Liou (Hong Kong)

Fourth Row:
Prof. Than Toe (Rehabilitation & Physical Medicine. RGH), Lt. Cmdr. Aung Shwe (Burma Navy)

Last Row:
Myo Myint (BE (EC), RUBC Gold, Mathematical Genius, Retired from PPIC, elder brother of Dr. Ba Han Texas), Than Htut (BE (Mech), RUBC Gold, Heavy Industries & Defense Industries), Mor Eng Way@Aye Ngwe (Retire d. Senior Radiologist, Former Commander. US Navy, Walter Reed Hospital), Nyunt Tin@ George Chiong (Retired Prof of Paed. Anesthesiology, Chicago – he is the second of four brilliant Chiong brothers, the eldest Chiong Boo Chiong @ Dr. Hla Shwe, Ph.D in Nuclear Physics, College Dean)

Homage by his students

Khine Marlar Myint wrote :

လြမ္း

တစ္ေခတ္မွာ တစ္ေယာက္
ထြန္းေပါက္ခဲ့ ျမန္ျပည္တြင္၊
ၿပိဳင္ေလာက္သူ မရွိရွား
ထူးျခားတဲ့ သမားဂုဏ္အင္။

ကေလးတို႔တြက္ ထင္မွတ္မွား
နတ္သိၾကား ပမာအသြင္၊
မမာသူ က်ံဳးကာထေအာင္
သူ႔ကုထံုး စြမ္းလွအစဥ္၊
တပည့္အေပါင္းကို ရင္ဝယ္သား
အမွတ္ထားတဲ့ ဆရာသခင္။

မေတြ႕တာၾကာ
မေမ့ပါ ဆရာ႕တပည့္ေတြက
ေန႔စဥ္ ဦးတင္
မာပါေစ ဆုေခ်ြေတာင္း။

အေၾကာင္းသင့္ရင္ျဖင့္
ျပန္ေခၚခ်င္ တို႔နိုင္ငံတြင္းကို မွန္း၊
အသြင္သစ္ နဲ႔ ျပည္သစ္မွာ
ခ်စ္ေသာ ဆရာ သူ႔ ဥာဏ္အားနဲ႔
ဘာေတြကို ဘယ္လိုေကာင္းေအာင္ ေျပာင္းမယ္
ေတြးမိကာလြမ္း….။
၃/၅/၁၆

• Dr. Thane Oke Kyaw Myint matriculated from SPHS in 1960.
  Stood Sixth in Burma.
  Won Collegiate Scholarship.
• MBBS from Institute of Medicine (1) in 1967.
• MRCP from the UK
• Founded the Alumni of Myanmar Institutes of Medicine.
• Historian for Medical Education & Practice in Burma/Myanmar.

Connections

He treats me like a family member. Our parents were Dhamma friends and sponsors of Dat Paung Zon Aung Min Gaung Pagoda and Sayadaw U Thilawuntha (Mon Sayadaw).

He was the teacher of my spouse. He took care of my then young sons.

He and his team from Rangoon Children Hospital would visit UCC to help conduct some survey (e.g. Perinatal Survey), perform computations to interpret the results.

His name was one of the candidates for determining the length of the name field used for the Burma Population Census in the 70s.

In 2006, I visited Sydney, Australia to attend three Reunions (a) RIT (b) UCC (c) SPHS. He came from Brisbane to attend the SPHS Reunion at Olympic Park. The host was Dr. Than Naing (Bonny Kywe, SPHS66, Geology).

There are several Posts about his extended family : his father, uncles, aunts, cousins, colleagues and students.

Book Present

He mailed me from Australia a copy of the book “Tribute to Dr. Thane Oke Kyaw Myint : The Journey of a Peripatetic Paediatrician“.

The book was published by a group of his former students (including my cousin nephew Dr. Khin Tun (Peter Tin U, UK, GBNF) and/or colleagues as a present for his 70th birthday.

There are almost a hundred articles covering 600 pages.

• 5 articles on “Lest we forget”
• 6 articles on “Tributes”
• 33 articles on “Family and friends”
• 52 articles on “Words of tribute by friends, colleagues, and former students.

• In 2006, he came from Canberra to the Olympic Park in Sydney to attend the Old Paulian’s Lunch Gathering hosted by Dr. Thann Naing (Bonny Kywe, SPHS66).