Dr. Farzana Rahman

Dr. Farzana Rahman looks at blood all day. Associate professor. MBBS from DMC and FCPS in haematology. People bring her these messy CBC reports. The printer ink is usually faded. She just runs her finger down the columns. Looking at the hemoglobin. The white cell counts. Lots of pale people sitting in the waiting room. Thalassemia. Leukemia. Bad stuff mostly. She sits behind a desk. Maybe a small microscope pushed to the side. She asks them if they feel tired. They always say yes. Blood problems make you tired. She just nods. Writes down a prescription for iron pills. Or schedules a blood transfusion. Just routine.

She does bone marrow tests too. Not a fun procedure. She has to push a thick needle into the hip bone. The room is usually quiet. Just the sound of the AC. She numbs the skin first. But it still hurts when she pulls the marrow out. Patients wince. She just tells them to hold still for a second. Puts the red fluid on small glass slides. Smears it flat. Later she looks at it under the microscope. Counting the weird cells. She teaches the medical students how to read the slides. They usually cannot see anything but pink dots. She just adjusts the focus knob for them. She finishes the clinic list. Puts her pen in her bag. Leaves the hospital.