New services for Myanmar

Reproduced with permission from Surgical News, a publicaton by the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.

Dr Win Win Kyaw, a Rowan Nicks International Scholar from Myanmar who received training and mentoring in Australia in 2010 has recently led the development and opening of a desperately-needed new cardiac surgery unit in Yangon.

Dr Kyaw was a consultant cardiovascular surgeon at the Yangon General Hospital at the time of her arrival in Australia and spent her time here on attachment to the Cardiothoracic Surgery Unit at the Liverpool Hospital in Sydney under the mentorship of cardiothoracic surgeon Associate Professor Bruce French.

Professor French, who mentored Dr Kyaw after first meeting her during an Open Heart International visit to the country in 2006, said the opening of her new unit will have a tremendous impact on the quality and availability of surgical treatment for people with cardiac disease.

“Yangon and Sydney have similar populations, yet Sydney has eight or nine cardiac units which conduct around 4000 surgeries per year while Yangon has two hospitals conducting only around 300 procedures,” he said.

“That shows the need just in one part of the country. In Mandalay, Myanmar’s second city, and other centres the need is even greater.

To read more about the new cardiac surgery unit in Yangon and the value of mentoring local surgeons, download the two page article from June 2013 edition of Surgical News. The full edition of Surgical News can be downloaded from the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons website here.