(This is the third part of a fictional short story - In you we trust. You can find the first part here.)

The month passed by quickly.

Prakash was there on the designated day at the dialysis unit at Charaka Hospital, all excited and ready to take charge. He went over to meet Dr. Jha first. Dr. Jha was getting ready to go on his rounds. Though Prakash would need to report at 7 a.m. every morning, on the first day he was asked to come at 9:30 so that he could be introduced to the rest of the staff. This was going to be a little tricky. Whenever someone from outside comes and joins a team in a superior position, there is always a risk of the existing members of the team feeling insecure, threatened and even being non-cooperative with the new leader.

Dr. Jha was aware of this. He first sat with Prakash and explained this to him. He counseled him on how to deal with each member of the staff, their strengths and weaknesses and how to slowly win each one's confidence. Dr. Jha mentally grinned and patted himself on the back. In a short span of time, he knew more about the dialysis unit staff than he had ever known about any of his direct reports!

The doctor led his hopefully-soon-to-be-trusted lieutenant to the unit and gestured for everyone to come to the nursing station. The staff collected quickly. They all respected the doctor and knew he had concerns regarding the unit. They were all trying to impress him. However, they realized, it hadn't been enough.

In chaste Kannada, the doctor began, "Hello friends, I am happy to introduce Mr. Prakash, the new Chief Dialysis Manager of our dialysis unit." He had picked up the language in his decade or so in the state quite well. It is important for doctors to speak the language of the patients. They can relate better. More than half of his patients were Kannadigas.

Some dialysis patients woke up to see what the fuss was all about. Some slept back. Some strained their ears to catch what Dr. Jha was saying. Any distraction is good enough when you're on dialysis!

"Prakash has many years of experience in running dialysis units. Prior to this, he was working in Sanjivani Hospital as Chief Dialysis Manager. Prakash will now lead the operations of the center. I will be working very closely with him to make sure that the transition will be smooth."

A machine sounded an alarm. One of the junior techs rushed off to press the Mute button. The patient had moved his hand to cause a kink in the tubes. The tech straightened the line and reset the alarm. He rejoined the group. The meeting continued.

"I thank you all for the co-operation you have given me in the last few weeks and am sure you will co-operate with Prakash in the same manner. I wish Prakash and all of you the best of luck in your work at this hospital. Thank you."

There was a light applause.

Dr. Jha asked Prakash to get himself familiar with the unit. He would finish off his rounds and join him. He would start transitioning all the responsibilities one by one to Prakash. Dr. Jha rushed to the IP rooms where his cases were admitted. The IgA Nephropathy case was doing much better. He wasn't fully all right though. The new drug had the desired effect. It took more than two weeks for them to see his values  return to normal. Those two weeks were very tense for the patient, his family and the doctor. There was a mild infection which they were treating now. That was also on the wane. Hopefully they would be able to discharge the patient in a few days.

Prakash started interacting with the technicians and nurses. He wanted to get a sense of how things were in the unit. He asked to be introduced to the patients. The junior techs took him around and started telling the patients who were on dialysis about Prakash. Some of them were asleep. Prakash signalled not to bother them. He knew that sleep was the best way someone could spend a session on dialysis. They came over to a bed where there was a pretty, young girl. She was awake reading a book. The techs introduced her to Prakash as Aparna madam. "This is the new Dialysis Manager", said one of the techs, "Prakash sir".

"Oh good", said Aparna, "now your work will become easier", she smiled and said to the junior techs. They all smiled back.

Aparna was on dialysis for the past four and half years. She was diagnosed with chronic kidney failure about five years back at the age of 24. Anyone would have been devastated with this sequence of events but not Aparna. She quickly gathered herself and fought to regain control of her life. She started working part time within a year of being on dialysis and she was now working full time. She had lost both her parents at a young age and only had a brother who stayed in the US with his family. They visited India rarely but kept in touch with her every week on phone. She usually came for her session in the third shift but today she was taking the day off to attend a family function and wanted to be done with it in the morning.

The techs moved to the nursing station and told Prakash that Aparna madam was their most active patient. She knew a lot about dialysis and would correct the mistakes they made not only in her case but also in other cases. Prakash raised an eyebrow. Correct mistakes in other cases as well? Hmmmm...