Lotay Tshering ( dz, བློ་གྲོས་ཚེ་རིང་; born 10 May 1969) is a Bhutanese politician and surgeon who is the current

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainou ...

, in office since 7 November 2018. He has also been the president of Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa since 14 May 2018.

Early life and education

Tshering was born on 10 May 1969, in a humble family. He hails from Dalukha village,

Mewang Gewog Mewang Gewog (Dzongkha: སྨད་ཝང་) is a gewog (village block) of Thimphu District, Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It ...

Thimpu Thimphu (; dz, ཐིམ་ཕུག ) is the capital and largest city of Bhutan. It is situated in the western central part of Bhutan, and the surrounding valley is one of Bhutan's ''dzongkhags'', the Thimphu District. The ancient capital city ...

. He received his early education from Punakha High School and graduated from

Sherubtse College Sherubtse College is the first accredited college in Bhutan, founded in 1966 by a group of Jesuits under the leadership of Father William Mackey. The college was affiliated to the University of Delhi by a special act of the Indian parliament. ...

. He graduated from

Mymensingh Medical College Mymensingh Medical College ( bn, ময়মনসিংহ মেডিকেল কলেজ), formerly Lytton Medical School, is a public medical college and hospital in Mymensingh, Bangladesh. The institute was established in 1924 during the ...

under the

University of Dhaka The University of Dhaka (also known as Dhaka University, or DU) is a public research university located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is the oldest university in Bangladesh. The university opened its doors to students on July 1st 1921. Currently i ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mo ...

and received a degree of

MBBS Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery ( la, Medicinae Baccalaureus, Baccalaureus Chirurgiae; abbreviated most commonly MBBS), is the primary medical degree awarded by medical schools in countries that follow the tradition of the United Kin ...

in 2001. He completed his post-graduation in

surgery Surgery ''cheirourgikē'' (composed of χείρ, "hand", and ἔργον, "work"), via la, chirurgiae, meaning "hand work". is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a person to investigate or treat a pa ...

from the

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) is a graduate medical university in Bangladesh. It was established in 1965. The university offers postgraduate degrees only, not offering undergraduate medical or dental degrees. History Es ...

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest ...

, Bangladesh. In 2007, he studied Urology at the

Medical College of Wisconsin The Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) is a private medical school, pharmacy school, and graduate school of sciences headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The school was established in 1893 and is the largest research center in eastern Wisconsin ...

, the USA, under his World Health Organisation fellowship. Upon his return to Bhutan, he was the only practicing trained

urologist Urology (from Greek οὖρον ''ouron'' "urine" and '' -logia'' "study of"), also known as genitourinary surgery, is the branch of medicine that focuses on surgical and medical diseases of the urinary-tract system and the reproductive org ...

in his country. In 2010, he obtained a fellowship in Endourology at

Singapore General Hospital Singapore General Hospital (SGH) is an academic health science centre and tertiary referral hospital in Singapore. It is located next to the Bukit Merah and Chinatown districts of the Central Region, close to the Outram Community Hospital (OC ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

, and Okayama University,

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

. He received a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

degree from

University of Canberra The University of Canberra (UC) is a public research university with its main campus located in Bruce, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The campus is within walking distance of Westfield Belconnen, and from Canberra's Civic Centre. U ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

in 2014.

Personal life

Tshering is married to a doctor, Ugyen Dema. The couple has one daughter. During his tenure in Mongar Regional Referral Hospital, he adopted one girl and one boy. Tshering speaks several languages, including Dzongkha, Lotshamkha, Bengali and English.

Professional career

Tshering served as a

consultant surgeon In the United Kingdom, Ireland, and parts of the Commonwealth, consultant is the title of a senior hospital-based physician or surgeon who has completed all of their specialist training and been placed on the specialist register in their chosen ...

in JDWNRH and Mongar Regional Referral Hospital, and was also served as a consultant urologist in JDWNRH for 11 years. After the payment of about Nu. 6.2 million to the Royal Civil Service Commission, he resigned from the JDWNRH as a urologist to join politics in 2013.

Political career

Tshering contested the 2013 National Assembly Election but his party was knocked out in the primary round. On 14 May 2018, Tshering received 1,155 votes and was elected as the president of the Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa (DNT) just five months before the Third National Assembly Election. He was elected to the National Assembly of Bhutan as a candidate of DNT from South Thimphu constituency in 2018 Bhutanese National Assembly election. He received 3,662 votes, defeating Kinley Tshering, a candidate of DPT. His party won largest number of seats in the 2018 National Assembly Election, bringing Tshering to premiership and Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa into government for the first time.

Prime Minister

On 7 November 2018, he replaced

Tshering Tobgay Tshering Tobgay ( dz, ཚེ་རིང་སྟོབས་རྒྱས།; born 19 September 1965) is a Bhutanese politician, environmentalist, and cultural advocate who was the Prime Minister of Bhutan from July 2013 to August 2018. Tobgay is ...

and was sworn in as 3rd democratically elected Prime Minister of Bhutan. On 27 December 2018, he arrived in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

(three-day visit) on his first foreign trip after assuming the office. On 13 April 2019, he arrived in

on an official visit and subsequently on 24 March 2021, on behalf of His Majesty to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of

's independence.

Cabinet

Tshering announced his 10 cabinet ministers on 3 November 2018.

Awards

*1991: He was awarded the Father William Mackey Gold Medal for academic excellence by

. *2005: He was awarded the Unsung Hero of Compassion Award by

14th Dalai Lama The 14th Dalai Lama (spiritual name Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, known as Tenzin Gyatso (Tibetan: བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་, Wylie: ''bsTan-'dzin rgya-mtsho''); né Lhamo Thondup), known as ...

. *2017: He was awarded the Order of the Beloved Son of the Dragon Medal (''Druk Jong Thuksey'') by King

Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck ( dz, འཇིགས་མེད་གེ་སར་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་དབང་ཕྱུག་, ; born 21 February 1980) is the Druk Gyalpo (Dzongkha: Dragon King) of the Kingdom of Bhutan. After his ...

for his "selfless and dedicated service to the Tsawa-Sum (our King, our country and our people)." *2018: Royal Orange Scarf by King

for "his appointment as the Prime Minister". *2020: Lungmar Scarf by King

for "his unwavering effort and contribution in fighting the ongoing pandemic as the Prime Minister".His Majesty confers Lungmar Scarf and Red Scarves
/ref> Tshering is the second person, after former Prime Minister ''Dasho''

, to be awarded this scarf since the creation of this award by the Third King, who was the King of Bhutan between 1952 to 1972.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tshering, Lotay 1969 births Living people Prime Ministers of Bhutan Bhutanese urologists Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa politicians University of Dhaka alumni Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University alumni Bhutanese MNAs 2018–2023 People from Thimphu District Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa MNAs