Extracted from today's My Paper (www.mypaper.com.sg):
HE HAD only five days in Myanmar
but, within that short span
of time, renowned cardiologist
Leslie Lam and his team accomplished
a great deal.
They conducted eight complex sugeries,
including angioplasty and stenting,
and set up a new cardiology unit in
a hospital catering only to monks.
The 65-year-old consultant at The
Cardiac Centre in Mount ElizabethMedical
Centre has been visiting Myanmar
with his other cardiologist friends since
1991 to render help to the local medical
fraternity, in terms of training and
equipment.
In 2005, the heart specialist was conferred
the Honorary Fellowship title by
his alma mater – the University College
Dublin in Ireland. Adding on to his already
long list of professional achievements,
Dr Lam is also currently serving
as Honorary Consultant to health ministries
in Seychelles and Brunei.
Just on Sunday, Dr Lam returned
from his latest trip to Myanmar, where
he helped out at a charitable hospital
for monks – Jivitadana Sangha Hospital
in Yangon – for the first time.
What made it more memorable was
that it was also his first collaboration
with Venerable Shi Fa Zhao of the Buddha
Tooth Relic Monastery in Chinatown,
who donated medical equipment
worth $218,688.
“This amount doesn’t sound very
much in Singapore, but you must remember
the earning power (in Myanmar)
is so low, it will take them many,
many years to earn this sort of money,”
Dr Lam said.
To illustrate his point, Dr Lam explained
that the equipment they donated
would “cost the average top US doctor
$138 to $207 a month”.
While the veteran volunteer, who has
helped in Vietnam and Brunei, was
hardly surprised to see 30 patients in
one day, he was startled by the health
condition of the monks.
“I thought monks, being on a vegetarian
diet, should not have coronary heart
disease, but I was so shocked to see so
many of them with severe coronary
heart disease,” he said with disbelief.
Dr Lam, a firm believer in giving
back to society, is already planning his
next trip there in four months’ time.
“They keep on inviting us to go,
that’s the most important thing. They
feel that they benefit from us going,” he
said.
While there may be many who would
welcome him and his team, some detractors
like the Voice of America (VOA) –
the official external radio and television
broadcasting service of the United
States federal government – have questioned
the intent of his endeavours.
The VOA had criticised the volunteers
for the aid they delivered in Myanmar,
as it felt that by treating patients
there, Dr Lam and his team were helping
to prop up the Myanmar military regime.
Despite the criticisms, the spritely
grandfather of a four-year-old girl said
he will continue his work until Myanmar’s
“economy improves”, hopefully
“in two to three years’ time”.
Dr Lam is not one to mix politics
with medicine.
He said: “I will treat Osama bin Laden
just as I will treat George Bush.
“Doctors should never try to be judges.
It’s not our job.”