Dr. Prasanta Kumar Chanda

Dr. Prasanta Kumar Chanda is an associate professor. CVTS. Heart and chest surgery. MBBS and MS. He probably sees a lot of lung cases. Older men who smoked cheap cigarettes for forty years. They come in coughing. Holding large envelopes with chest X-rays. He clips the black films to the light board. The fluorescent tube behind it might flicker a bit. He just points at the white shadows. Tells them it is a mass. Or fluid. He teaches the junior doctors too. Shows them how to put in a chest drain. Pushing a thick plastic tube between the ribs. Sort of a rough process. The patient groans. He just tapes it to their side. Connects it to a plastic water bottle on the floor. Bubbles come out.

Up in the operating room it is mostly heavy work. Opening a chest takes physical force. He uses a big metal retractor. Cranking it open to get to the lungs or the heart. The ribs crack a little sometimes. He is used to the sound. Probably wears those heavy green rubber boots. He cuts out bad pieces of lung. Or fixes leaky heart valves. The medical students stand on step stools just to see over his shoulder. He asks for a clamp. The nurse slaps it into his palm. He sews the tissue up. Leaves a couple of drain tubes sticking out of the skin. Takes off his gloves. Throws them in the yellow bin. Washes his hands.