Min Sein

Thiri Pyanchi Min Sein (, ; formerly, Hoe Min Sein; 26 December 18989 November 1978) was a Burmese physician, educator and administrator. The first Burmese dean of the Faculty of Medicine of Rangoon University in British Burma, Min Sein was one of the small group of senior physicians that rebuilt and expanded the country's medical education system from the ground up after the country's independence in 1948. He served as the dean of the medical school four times between 1947 and 1959, and led the Burma Medical Research Institute, the Burma Medical Association and the Burma Olympic Committee.

Early life and education

He was born Hoe Min Sein to landowner parents U Sine Hu and Daw Yin Cane on 26 December 1898 in Pyapon in the Irrawaddy delta in British Burma. He went to high school in Rangoon (Yangon), and studied medicine at the University of Calcutta, and graduated with an MB in 1925. He continued his studies at Guy's Hospital, London from 1927 to 1930, as a clinical assistant to Sir John Conybeare and Sir Charles Symonds.

Career

Colonial era Upon return to Burma, Hoe joined the Indian Medical Service, the military medical service of British India on 27 April 1931. He joined the service right before the outbreak of an open rebellion by Burmese peasants hit hard by the Great Depression. He served as a battalion medical officer with the British Forces throughout the rebellion (1931–1932). and he was assigned to work for the government of Burma by the IMS on 26 February 1934. He became a lecturer in medicine at Rangoon Medical College in 1938, and the Medical Superintendent (Head) of Rangoon General Hospital in 1940. Indeed, in 1942, he was one of the only four Burmese officers (alongside Lt. Col. Henry Aung Khin, Lt. Col. Alfred Ba Thaw and Capt. Shwe Zan) in the Burma Medical Service (BMS), the successor of the IMS in Burma. Yin May did join the BMS after the war in 1946 as a Lt. Col. to run the Lady Dufferin Maternity Hospital. )

Hoe left Burma with the British administration to India during the Japanese occupation of Burma (1942–1945). He was part of the exodus of medical professionals that evacuated the country along with the British administration. His wife remained in Burma, and ended up founding and running the main maternity hospital in Rangoon throughout the war years. (Hoe, Yin May and their son fled Rangoon in early 1942 to escape the invasion but the family somehow got separated in Upper Burma. He made it to India but his pregnant wife returned to Rangoon alone. ) He served in the 14th Army from 1942 to 1946 as an Assistant Director, Medical Services (ADMS) and Deputy Director, Medical Services (DDMS). In 1947, Min Sein, as he was known now, became the first ever Burmese dean of the medical school, succeeding the Faculty's first dean Dr. William Burridge. He was awarded the title of OBE by the British government in 1947, and promoted to the rank of Lt. Col. (although he is commonly, if imprecisely, referred to as Col. Min Sein in Burmese publications.) Furthermore, he did not quit the IMS until 1948.

Post-independence

After the country's independence in 1948, Min Sein was one of the few physicians left in the country. His post-independence career centered on rebuilding and expanding the country's medical education system. He was instrumental in restarting the medical school after the war. Under their leadership, the country produced 532 MBBS graduates between 1948 and 1957

Min Sein also represented the country on several occasions. He was a member of or leader of the country's missions to the UK, the US (1952), the USSR (1954) and Japan (1958). and a member of the Technical and Scientific committee, WHO. and Shwe Zan as Professor of Medicine. He received his FRCP fellowship from the Royal College Physicians at the end of his career in 1959.

Personal life He married Yin May in 1936. as well as an adopted son, Mya Thein Han, who went on to become the director of Myanmar Army Medical Corps.

Min Sein was a lifelong sports enthusiast. He was a Guy's Hospital tennis Blue; inter-collegiate long jump champion, Calcutta; president of the Burma Olympic Association, 1948, and captain of the Burma Golf Club. He was president of the Burma National Amateur Athletic Federation, and also of the Weight Lifting and Body Culture Federation, and director and steward of the Rangoon Turf Club. He was 79.