[6] Thein Hlaing was born in 1933[7] in Thaton, Burma Province, India to a family of Chinese descent.

[9] During his university years, Thein Hlaing served as a general secretary of the Medical College Students' Union in 1957 and of the Young Doctors Association (YDA) in 1960.

[8] During his internship as a surgeon, Thein Hlaing led a strike against the government for paying interns at a low rate in public hospitals.

[11] Without adequate surgical instruments, Thein Hlaing operated to alleviate thyroid disease, a common condition in the area, performing surgery even under trees or outside huts.

[3] Naga Thein Hlaing is a protagonist in the 2016 novel The Sweet Honey Drop on the Sharp Scalpel Blade by Nyi Pu Lay [my].