Under the PM’s knifeAt the hospital, Tshering’s patient, a 40-year-old man named Bumthap who underwent a five-hour bladder repair surgery, told AFP he was pleased with the results. Sunday is family time. Bhutan is carbon negative and its constitution mandates that 60 percent of the country remains forested. During the week, he also happens to be prime minister in the Himalayan kingdom famous for measuring citizens’ Gross National Happiness. Nurses and hospital attendants continue with their jobs as normal.But Tshering is no ordinary doctor.Archery competitions, with liberal amounts of the local firewater, are a national craze.This, he said, serves as a reminder of his election pledge to focus on healthcare.Tshering, who trained in Bangladesh, Japan, Australia and the United States, began his political career in 2013, but his party failed to make headway in that year’s election.One of the pillars of Gross National Happiness is conservation of the environment.A case apartThe Buddhist kingdom is in many ways a case apart, benchmarking itself on happiness instead of economic growth.And on the days when he drives his car around the capital Thimphu -- instead of using his official chauffeur -- an-all-too familiar urge takes hold of him. “For me it’s a de-stresser,” said Tshering, who was elected prime minister of the nation of 750,000 people last year in only its third democratic election since the end of absolute monarchy in 2008. “Whenever I drive to work on weekdays, I wish I could turn left towards the hospital.The capital Thimphu has no traffic lights, the sale of tobacco is banned, and television was only allowed in 1999.No one at the hospital bats an eyelid as Tshering, wearing a faded lab coat and crocs, walks through the busy corridors.

After losing, King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck commanded him to lead a team of doctors and travel with the monarch’s entourage to far-flung villages to provide free medical treatment.Thimpu: It’s Saturday in Bhutan and Lotay Tshering has just completed urinary bladder repair surgery on a patient at the Jigme Dorji Wangchuck National Referral Hospital.Now as Prime Minister, he spends Saturdays treating patients referred to him and Thursday mornings offering medical Xenon/LED Reading Lights advice to trainees and doctors.”. I am just spending my weekends here,” the 50-year-old told AFP. “I will continue doing this until I die and I miss not being able to be here every day,” he added. Phalluses painted on houses to ward off evil are also a common sight.Back in the Prime Minister’s office, a lab coat hangs on the back of his chair.But the “Land of the Thunder Dragon” also has its problems, among them corruption, rural poverty, youth unemployment and criminal gangs. “Some people play golf, some do archery, and I like to operate. It is also big on ecotourism and charges a daily fee of USD 250 per visitor in high season. In the government, I scan the health of policies and try to make them better,” he said. “At the hospital I scan and treat patients. “We must now slowly put more focus on secondary and tertiary healthcare,” Tshering said.Politics, the Prime Minister said, is a lot like being a doctor.While the country has seen major improvements in life expectancy, a reduction in infant mortality and the elimination of many infectious diseases, the number of lifestyle diseases -- including alcoholism and diabetes -- is on the rise. “Now that I have been operated on by the prime minister, who is considered one of the best doctors in the country, I feel more relieved,” he said.Patients don’t have to pay directly for healthcare in Bhutan, but Tshering says that much more remains to be done despite important strides in medical treatment.

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