by Hla Min & Sein Yie
Update : July 2025
Translation of my spouse’s article
In Burma, our beloved land, we treasure “Say Mee Toh” ဆေးမီးတို (Quick remedy). In fact, our forebears used easily available fruits, flowers, and leaves as traditional medicine. Some are taken raw, some are prepared according to a recipe.
Doctor turned Patient
I did private practice at Barr Street (Maha Bandoola Pann Chan Lann မဟာဗန္ဓုလပန်းခြံလမ်း). There are several clinics and hospitals nearby. It is close to 35th Street which is frequently by the members of Yoke Shin Law Ka (ရုပ်ရှင်လောက Movie Community).
For a few months, I served as a doctor at the Waziya Pyazat Yone (ဝဇီရာပြဇာတ်ရုံ Theater for live performances). One day, I abruptly fell sick after being caught in the heavy rain. Thankfully, the Theater staff (who were my patients) gave me medicine. For a moment, the patients had treated their doctor. I will always remember and treasure their kind acts.
Advice
Some doctors give medical advice to patients, but find it hard to take care of themselves. With sunglasses on, they will advice their patients to quit drinking and smoking and not to chew betel.
They may drink claiming for example that “a glass of wine is good for the blood circulation”. I did not refuse when iNapa Winery gave me a bottle of Premium Wine for my birthday.
Mother and My In-laws
My mother passed away in August several years ago. She was 87. I still remember her preparing “Kun Ywet Pyoat Yay ကွမ်းရွက်ပြုတ်ရေ” for me.
My father-in-law who learned indigenous medicine from Kadok Sayagyi (ကတုတ်ဆရာကြီး his life saver) and my mother-in-law had a cabinet of Western and Eastern medicine. They also treated me at times.
A million thanks.
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