In Memory of Sayagyi U Kyee Paw

(Dr Maung Maung Nyo)

Today the mountain fell
The earth sinks well
Saya J tells us he is dead
Yes, Sayagyi U Kyee Paw has left!

He left us nonplused
He was a teacher first class
A skilled surgeon unsurpassed
He saved suffering Burmese mass.

He was born in Wakema
A tiny town in Irrawaddy Delta
But, he went on becoming a doctor
He graduated MBBS with flying colors.

He studied for FRCS Edinburgh
He mastered the surgery of women
But, he was employed as surgeon for men
He trained later for both genders in America.

He was the first Rangoon medical graduate
To be appointed as chair of his old college
To the acclaim of his students and colleagues
He led all with grace and greatness without greed.

He led the surgical world in Burma since 1960
He also was in the forefront for medical education
Having studied and taken part in the new field
He encouraged opening new specialties in succession.

He was the father of many prominent surgeons
Like Maung Maungs Aye, Sein and Norman Hla
Some of them now taking over as chair of profession
Some even refused promotion like Kan Baw Za.

U Kyee Paw was strict with discipline
He liked his staff to follow it with precision
So that patients benefited without exception
He always worked to finish above expectation.

He had a cheerful personality
He was tall, fair and friendly
He always cared for patients and surgery
Other things were mundane to his psychology.

I was fortunate to learn from him
He was my teacher in the 1960s
I was his junior in medical education
We worked together with conviction.

There are many more students admiring him
There are patients he had saved in operations
There are medical educationists benefiting
He was the ultimate benefactor in Burma’s Medicine.

We will miss him today and tomorrow
Nothing can compensate or cure our sorrow
Indeed, we have lost a coveted senior fellow
Let us pray for his soul,
“May he live long in Deva galore
Until he sees Metteyya Buddha glow.”

Dr Maung Maung Nyo
MBBS March 1961 RU/MC
13.10.2008 (original)