Professor Dr. Shamima Anwar

Dr. Shamima Anwar is a consultant at Chittagong Medical College. Oncology. Cancer stuff. MBBS and MCPS. Some fellowship too. IAIA. The cancer ward at CMCH is always crowded. People sitting on the floor in the hallway. Smells like old rice and strong floor cleaner. She sits in a small room. Probably a metal desk with a glass top. Lots of thick files. Biopsy reports. CT scans printed on that shiny paper. She just looks at the papers. Tells them what stage it is. People usually cry. She just waits for them to stop. Hands them a tissue from a plastic box. Sort of a heavy job. She writes down the chemotherapy drugs. Red fluid in IV bags. Just numbers and doses.

The chemo day care room is pretty quiet. Just the sound of the ceiling fans. Patients sitting in those reclining chairs with the peeling fake leather. She walks through there sometimes. Checking the IV lines. Making sure the medicine is dripping right. Hair loss is pretty much guaranteed with these drugs. She tells them to buy a scarf. Or a cap. Nothing you can do about it anyway. She checks their blood counts. White blood cells drop too low sometimes. She tells the nurses to delay the next cycle. Just writes it on the chart. Maybe drinks some lukewarm water from a flask. She finishes her shift. Packs her bag. Goes home.