A novel recounts the life of Burmese surgeon who practiced among head hunters Doctors are everyday heroes, but some especially so. Take Dr Albert Schweitzer for instance, a man who dedicated his life to treat poor patients in Central Africa. Consider also Norman Bethune who helped the wounded in the Spanish civil wars and in the Chinese countryside. All these people’s lives would make for great novels. Does Myanmar have heroic doctors ? The answer is yes. In ‘The Sweet Honey Drop on the Sharp Scalpel Blade’, Nyi Pu Lay, a Burmese writer recently honoured with the National Literary Award 2016, has given Burmese mythology his first such doctor, under the traits of Dr Thein Hlaing, better known as “Naga Thein Hlaing”.

Novel