Yin May

Yin May (, ; September 190029 September 1978) was a Burmese physician and educator. She was the first Burmese obstetrician and gynecologist, and the first person to perform the Caesarian section in British Burma. She is also known for her research on amoebic vaginitis, known as May's disease.

Yin May founded the country's main maternity hospital during the Japanese occupation (1942–1945), and she co-founded the wartime medical and nursing schools (1943–1945). After the war, she served as the head of Lady Dufferin Maternity Hospital from 1946 to 1959, and the head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the Faculty of Medicine of Rangoon University from 1947 to 1959. Under her leadership, Dufferin became a maternity hospital recognized by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in 1957.

Early life and education Yin May was born in September 1900 to a well-to-do family in Prome (Pyay) in British Burma. (Her father U Kyaw was then the Deputy Commissioner of Prome, a mid-level official in the colonial administration, and later became the Secretary of Home and Defence by the early 1940s. ) She had at least one brother, Thein Kyaw.

Yin May had a brilliant academic career. After two years at Rangoon College, she went to study medicine at the University of Calcutta on a scholarship in 1919, and graduated with an MB (and a gold medal in pathology) in 1925. As the deputy head of a major hospital, she had joined the upper echelons of the tiny colonial era medical community made up mainly of foreign-born physicians and specialists that existed primarily in Rangoon (Yangon). (Her two superiors during her first stay at the hospital (1930–1936) were British IMS officers: Lt. Col. S.T. Crump (1930–1931) and Lt. Col. M.L. Treston (1931–1936). )

Yin May was instrumental in the expansion of modern obstetrics and gynecology (OG/OBGYN) practices in Burma; she was the first person to perform the Caesarian section in the country. Patients from Dufferin were moved to Rangoon General Hospital Most of its tiny colonial era medical staff had also fled. Indeed, she herself fled with her husband Min Sein and their young son to Upper Burma in early 1942. But she somehow got separated from her family in Upper Burma, and returned to Rangoon mid 1942 alone, and pregnant. She then joined BIA Hospital, the makeshift hospital founded by Dr. Ba Than, as the head of the Maternity Unit.

It would prove to be her biggest challenge yet. In the beginning, she had no staff with any OG experience; she was assigned just one novice physician Kyee Paw and a few nurses. According to Myint Swe, a pregnant Yin May, despite getting tired easily, worked all hours at the hospital; she even went back to work the night after she had given birth herself to perform a complicated surgery to save a mother's life. In late 1942, she was able to establish a maternity hospital in Tamwe Township. Dr. Kyee Paw, who would later become a highly accomplished surgeon and professor in his own right, joined as her deputy. The maternity hospital proved a lifeline to many would-be mothers, and became a training ground for a new generation of several young physicians and nurses. She, along with Drs. Ba Than and S. Sen, was a co-founder of the wartime medical and nursing schools. The trio oversaw the programs, and graded exam papers.

Post-WWII

After the war, she continued her roles as the foremost OG practitioner and educator in the country. She served as the head of the reconstructed Dufferin Hospital from 1946 to 1959, and also as the head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the Faculty of Medicine of Rangoon University from 1947 to 1959. Having a local RCOG recognized hospital made it much easier for Burmese OGs to pursue FRCOG fellowships. Through the process, Yin May too became an FRCOG in 1957.

Prof. Yin May retired in 1959 but remained active. She was a member of the executive committee of Burma Research Society. Min Sein went on to become a lieutenant colonel in the BMS (the Burmese version of IMS) by 1946, the first Burmese dean of the Faculty of Medicine of Rangoon University in 1947. He served in the British 14th Army from 1942 to 1946. as well as an adopted son, Brig. Gen. Dr. Mya Thein Han, who went on to become the director of Myanmar Army Medical Corps.