The Pioneers of Medicine in Burma #1
Prof U Ba Than (Surgery)
(by dr thane oke kyaw-myint)
If you look at the photo of the sayagyis and sayamagyis, the third from the left in the first row
is Sayagyi U Ba Than, MBBS (Calcutta)FRCS (Edin), FRCS (Glas), FICS, and Rector of Institute of
Medicine!Yangon, and formerly, Dean of the faculty of Medicine,Mandalay.During that time, we have
only Judson College and Rangoon College. After finishing the two years in college (Intermediate
Science I. Sc. A & B, then only one could enter med school. This was true up to our time. We were
the last batch I think who entered Yankin College and the compete for med school.)
Saya Dr. U Myint Swe wrote a book called, "Mhat Mi Ba Thae Di, Gyapan Khit Yangon Sae Yone Gyi
Wae" ("I remember the Rangoon General Hospital during the Japanese Occupation." Everyone of us who read the book by Saya U Myint Swe would be reading about Saya U Ba Than, who refused to be
evacuated when the Japanese Army came in, in 1942, and stayed through out the occupation for three
years, risking both his life and his reputation (he was accused of being a Japanese collaborator;
this was found to be untrue and saya's reputation remained as unblemished as it was before). Saya
never was a collaborator but he stayed on as a true patriot and a real "thamar". Saya's staying
behind resulted in the Burmese having continuing access to care during these difficult times. I
hope someone will translate this into English or at least publish the book again.
When the Mandalay faculty of Medicine was opened, Saya was requested to be the Dean of the new
faculty of medicine. When the faculty of Medicine, University of Rangoon, became the Institute of
Medicine 1, Saya became the Rector of our Institute.
Sayagyi held two very important positions in Rangoon: that of the head of the department of
surgery in RGH as well as the first Burmese police surgeon looking after medico-legal cases.
Sayagyi performed the post mortem of Bogyoke Aung San and the Arzani who were assassinated in 1947.
(by the way, he tried to save my uncle's life when he was assassinated in 1948 but could not, as
well as performed the postmortem on my uncle). Sayagyi was responsible for nurturing and training
so many senior doctors who became famous professors of surgery – Saya U Kyaw Maung, Saya U Maung
Maung Lay, Saya U Maung Maung Sein and many others. All these three sayagyis in surgery became
Director Generals of Medical Education later.
Sayagyi was very interested in Burmese culture, played the pattaya very well and was responsible
for having his own "troupe" of performers in the medical schools. Dr. Anthony Lee started of as
a "Lu pyet" in saya's "anyeint" which he had kept up up till now at the age of 63 years in
California. Sayagyi was from Ptun Ta Zar: Pyun Ta Zar had honored saya by naming one of teh major
streets as Dr. U Ba Than Street and there is also a Dr, U Ba Than Hospital, built with donations
from his students and the people of pyuntazar.
Saya was doing surgery into his mid-seventies, as the Hon.Consulatant Surgeon to East Rangoon
Hospital, up till a few years before his demise. Our medschool song "Zwe Shi Hma Aung Naing Mye"
was composed by saya and all of us had to sing it at the top of our voice when nagakoko and we
were in ed school.
Tue Nov 15, 2005 1:20 am (by Nagakoko aka Saya Anthony Lee)Subject: Re: [IM-1RTF] The Pioneers of Medicine in Burma #1: Surgery: Prof. U Ba Than
Dear Johnny'
Thanks for all the memories and history of our beloved Sayagyis, after serving as the Dean of
Mandalay Medical College, Sayagyi U Ba Than returned to Rangoon in 1964 as the first Rector of
MC-1, by then Sayagyi was in his 70s, beside from giving occasional lecture, especially the
welcoming lecture for the 3rd and final years students, most of the time, Sayagyi was into forming
a performing dance group, by selecting the talented dancers and performers from MC-1, it was a
whole year event, because we had to compete with the other University, ( arts and science, and
jyogone engineering ). Our byaw-nyunt-mingalar won the first prize,and was selected by the
ministry of culture to perform at the National cultural theatre in 1965, Dr. Win Mar ( child
actress of pho- pyone-cho with pho-par-gyi, grand-daughter of A1 U Tin Maung ) was the shin-laung,
of couse, Sayagyi U Ba Than sang the byaw-nyunt, while playing the patalar, accompanied by the
saing-sayar U Sein Mya Maung. In that show, I played the Burmese flute ( pa-lway ). Sayagyi and his performance troupe also took credit in providing the show of MC-1 first convocation in 1964,
(Dr.Daisy Saw, and Dr. David Khoo batch ), at Lanmadaw (Gawdin) MC-1 Library. At that graduation
dinner show, the MC-1 pho-tu-daw yein was debut, that pho-tu-daw yein was brought to MC-1 by me
from Mandalay college,where I performed at Man-yar-pyait with the Kyaut-sae students group,the
pho-tu-daw yein became a hit that it was a must whenever there was a show by MC-1. Myaing-tah
Naparthwar sung by Dr. Robin Ah- Khine,and Dr. Ma Lay Khine was also very popular,needless to say,
Sayagyi U Ba Than played the pa-ta-lar in all the events if possible. As TOKM said Sayagyi is
known as Zwe Ba Than, because of his Zwe tha-chin.( perseverance song ). I hope this revealed the
ah-nu-pyin-nyar side of our beloved Sayagyi, and hope every body enyoy this.
Again, thanks for the memories.