‘I have no regrets’

Journeying to Jamaica 32 years ago to take up a job as a psychiatrist is one risk that Burmese national Dr Myo Kyaw Oo took for which he harbours no regrets.

He has since become a Jamaican citizen and brought his Burmese wife to Jamaica, where they raised two daughters.

In November, Oo will officially retire from government service and the Bellevue Hospital in Kingston, bringing the curtain down on a career, which, he said, if he should go back in time, he would not have wanted it any other way than being in Jamaica.

After the military took control of his country and restricted their movement and freedom in the 1980s, a young, educated Oo had eyes set on going to St Vincent and the Grenadines. The plan was to transition to a First World country, such as the United States or the United Kingdom, after racking up some experience.

However, when he went to follow up on the passport needed to travel to St Vincent and the Grenadines as part of a United Nations mission in 1989, he was told that trip had been cancelled.

Some time after, he went to visit a colleague, who told him that he had rejected an offer to become a psychiatrist with the Ministry of Health in Jamaica. That colleague gave Oo an application form to apply for the post.

“In those days, Jamaica did not have enough psychiatrists to run the facility, so, therefore, the country was blessed to call in psychiatrists to come in through the United Nations’ Volunteer Programme, called UNV [back then]. In those days, we had psychiatrists coming from Philippines, China, Africa, and India,” Oo told The Gleaner earlier this week at his office at the Bellevue Hospital.

Having attained his medical degree while in the army and then becoming a general medical officer and frontier field officer, specialising in psychiatry, starting in 1986, Jamaica offered him the job in 1990.

“When I came here, Jamaica was hiring a lot of multinational psychiatrists because in those days, Bellevue was a very big compound. There was no Manley Meadows or [the Sir Florizel Glasspole] Highway as yet. The land was quite big, and you could walk straight down to the seashore, and we had 1,500 in patients in those days. There’s not only been a lot of changes at the hospital, but in my life, too, because when I came in, I was trained as a psychiatrist in Burma,” said Oo, who graduated from medical school in 1982 before joining the army medical corps.

The move to Jamaica was not an easy one for him, being the oldest of his parents’ six children. His family was not fully supportive of his decision, but faith was all he needed to make that life change.

“They didn’t want me to leave. I could understand. My parents were retired at that time when I left. My father was the breadwinner as an army officer, and my mother was a housewife, but that’s how life is. I had to find a better way because the opportunities in Burma were not that great at that time because of the military takeover, and also, in those days, you were restricted, you were not allowed to go or to do whatever you liked to do or it’s not the place to shine your potential. That’s why I chose to come out,” he explained.

His trip to Jamaica was also his first time travelling internationally, which proved scary, Oo recalled.

“For Burmese passports back then, the Government decides which country you are to get and they give you only five countries to go there, so I had to travel from the capital of Burma to Bangkok to Hong Kong to Los Angeles to Miami to Jamaica on Thai Airways, Northwest Airlines, Pan Am Airlines, and I landed around midnight,” he vividly recalled.

Oo arrived in the island on December 1, 1990, and he reported for his first day of work on December 7.

Dr Denise Goffe told him that he would be sent to Mandeville to start psychiatric services there, but he would first be sent to the Bellevue Hospital for an orientation period of two weeks.

As fate would have it, he has remained there until this day.

“I don’t have no regrets at all. That’s why I became a naturalised citizen in 1997. Sometimes, life is like that. You’re meant to be here, so I’m here and I have no regrets,” he said.

While reflecting on his 32 years spent so far in Jamaica, Oo told The Gleaner that one of his most memorable moments was seeing the Oo Park therapeutic facility at Bellevue Hospital being named in his honour. Opened in 2022, it features ducks, pigeons, a treehouse, various plants, fountains, and a wellness bench for patients to be treated and for relaxation.

Oo Park is also open to members of the public.

As he looks forward to the remaining eight months before he closes this chapter as psychiatrist and senior medical officer at the Bellevue Hospital, Oo noted that Jamaicans are blessed to be living in this tropical island.

He expressed gratitude to Jamaican mentors such as Dr Aggrey Irons, who is still in his private practice.

After retiring, Oo said he still would continue his private practice as well.

“As a civil servant, you always have to work. You always have to perform ... . That’s how I always consider myself - as a civil servant,” he said.

ainsworth.morris@gleanerjm.com