Prof. Dr. Begum Hosne Ara

Prof. Dr. Begum Hosne Ara is the head of gynae. MBBS, DGO, FCPS, MCPS. That is a lot of board exams. Her office is probably always full. Pregnant women sitting on those hard wooden chairs outside. Holding their lower backs. The waiting room gets pretty stuffy by noon. She sits behind a wide desk. Signing leave applications for the junior doctors first. Then looking at ultrasound reports. Just black and white static on thin paper. She checks the baby's weight. Tells the mother to eat more eggs and spinach. Simple advice. They always worry about the exact delivery date. She just writes a date down on the file. It is usually a guess anyway. She probably drinks a cup of red tea while reading the charts.

She leads the morning rounds. A bunch of medical students trailing behind her. The maternity ward is loud. Babies crying. Mothers looking exhausted. She stops at a metal bed. Presses on a stomach to check the uterus. Tells the registrar to discharge bed number six. Up in the OT it is mostly C-sections. She has done thousands by now. Just routine. She cuts through the layers. Pulls the baby out. Hands it to the waiting pediatrician. The room smells like iodine and blood. She stitches the mother back up. Thick thread. Takes maybe thirty minutes. She takes off her heavy plastic apron. Washes her hands at the sink. Leaves the room.