Prof. Dr. Md. Abu Bakar

Prof. Dr. Md. Abu Bakar has been around for a long time. Started out at Sher-e-Bangla Medical College. Did some time at Faridpur General Hospital. Then he spent nineteen years at Khulna Medical College. Even became the principal there. Nineteen years is a long time to look at sick people in Khulna. The weather down there gets pretty sticky. He probably sat in a big office with a heavy wooden desk. Signing leave papers for junior doctors. Now he is a senior consultant in internal medicine. He has those foreign degrees too. FACP from America. FRCP from Edinburgh. Just letters on a nameplate now. He sees the complicated cases. People with fevers that do not make sense.

He just looks at the old files. Patients bring in those thick plastic folders. The ones with the plastic snap buttons. He pulls out the blood reports. Just runs his finger down the numbers. He asks them where it hurts. They usually point to their stomach or chest. He listens with his stethoscope. The rubber is probably a bit stiff by now. He does not use big medical words. Just tells them what pill to take. Maybe writes down a few more tests. CBC. Creatinine. He has seen pretty much everything by now. Nineteen years plus. He writes the prescription. Hands it over. Tells them to come back next week.