‘Corrupt’ Township Medical Officer to be Transferred
24 June 2011: Thantlang Township Medical Officer Dr. Thet Tun Nwe, described as ‘cruel and corrupt’ by the locals, has been confirmed to be relocated to Shwebo, a city in Sagaing Division of Burma.
The announcement of transference came months after a series of complaints made by the local patients and hospital staffs in Thantlang Town who are said to be seriously disappointed with Dr. Nwe’s treatment and behavior.
One of the local pastors told Chinland Guardian: “We have learned that Dr. Thet Tun Nwe will be transferred to a new location in charge of leprosy hosptial. Being aware that there is no or little way for him to get money out of the service, he does not want to go yet although the letter of transference has already been received.”
The Burmese doctor has been branded as ‘rapacious and inhuman’ for his accessive greediness and immoral behaviour towards his own midwives and patients.
A source close to the doctor revealed that the medical officer sent local midwives to villages without giving them travel costs and instead pocketed all the funds provided for the medical projects in rural areas of Thantlang township.
Recently, a local man who had got injuries on his face was charged 80,000 Kyats for just stitching the cut, which was carried out by the midwives, not Dr. Thet Tun Nwe, according to the witnesses.
The local witnesses also said there have been several occasions where the Burmese doctor mistreated and left pregnant women in labour to suffer for hours or overnight at the hospital, adding: “Sometimes, he didn’t even come out to see them.”
Dr. Thet Tun Nwe was also reported having asked for the rent and petrol fees whenever a training, which he forced to organise at his office or the hospital, was conducted.
A town elder from Thantlang was quoted by Khonumthung News that the central authorities transferred Dr. Thet Tun Nwe from his previous post to Chin State because of his ‘immoral’ behaviour.
The local authorities have also been accused of turning a deaf ear to complaints by the local people and of ignoring the situation facing the local patients and medical staffs.
“Now that he is going to another place, we feel relieved. But we are not sure who will be sent to replace his position. We pray that a kind and good doctor come to our town,” the locals told Chinland Guardian.
Van Biak Thang
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