Tough job indeed. Dr Myint Htwe is an experienced manager.
Jamie
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Tough job in store for incoming health minister
Shwe Yee Saw Myint
Myanmar Times
Monday, 28 March 2016
On April 1, incoming Minister for Health Dr Myint Htwe stands for the difficult task of reforming a wing of the government notorious for its “militarisation”, while also handling the largest budget assigned to the health sector in years.
In the 2016-17 national budget – which was approved by the outgoing government for use by the incoming National League for Democracy-led administrative – K757 billion was slated for the health sector. While still among the lowest dedicated health allowances in the region, the allocation represents a significant rise from previous years when it received less than 1 percent of the national spending.
Questions remain however over how much influence incoming minister Dr Myint Htwe will be able to exert over the sector in his second stint as a bureaucrat.
Senior health officials told The Myanmar Times before the minister appointment that they were already preparing to implement plans for the coming year. The ministry had jettisoned a request from the NLD to view its plans.
Last year, medical staff launched a “black ribbon campaign” to protest against the large number of former military officers they said had been parachuted into the health ministry without proper qualifications or experience.
But Dr Myint Htwe is no stranger to the ministry, where he worked for 17 years until 1994. During his break from civil service in Myanmar, the father-of-two worked as a regional adviser and program director for the World Health Organization until his retirement in 2010.
According to his CV, he studied at Institute of Medicine 1 and attained a master’s in public health from the Institute of Public Health at the University of the Philippines as well as a doctorate in public health from Johns Hopkins University in the US.
Dr Myint Htwe was one of the public health experts involved in drafting the controversial population control law sponsored by nationalist Buddhist organisations. The law gives local authorities the power to control birth rates in their area and was slammed by local women’s organisations and international human rights groups who said it would infringe on reproductive rights and mainly be used to target ethnic minorities.
The law was one of four bills written by the Committee for the Protection of Race and Religion, better known by its Myanmar-language acronym Ma Ba Tha. The controversial “race and religon” package was later re-drafted by a 12-member commission set up by the president that included representatives of the Ministry of Immigration and Population, the Ministry of Religious Affairs, the president’s legal advisory team, and other government bodies.
Dr Myint Htwe was not willing to comment on his plans for the ministry before giving the first address in his new capacity to the ministry’s staff and international organisations.
“I want to speak with my family first,” he said, referring to the ministry’s staff.
In a conversation with The Myanmar Times earlier this month, Dr Kyaw Zwe, an NLD CEC member, said that the party would not be able to institute quick fixes like free healthcare for all but would work on using the limited funds to support healthcare for impoverished families.
http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/national-news/nay-pyi-taw/19668-tough-job-in-store-for-incoming-health-minister.html
