Most people assume an anaesthesiologist’s job ends the moment a patient wakes up. Dr. Soumitra Mukherjee would tell you it barely begins there. As Senior Consultant, Head of the Department of Anaesthesia, and In-Charge of the Operation Theatre at HealthWorld Hospitals, he holds a DrNB in Cardiac Anaesthesia, alongside fellowships in both cardiac anaesthesia (FIACTA) and transesophageal echocardiography (FTEE). It’s a rare combination in India, one that places him among a small, highly specialised class of cardiac anaesthesiologists working at the sharpest edge of a discipline most patients barely think about until something goes wrong. His inclusion among India’s top anaesthesiologists this year rests on exactly that, a career built not around a single dramatic save, but around an evolving philosophy of what a cardiac anaesthesiologist actually is, precisely – not just a background presence in the OT, but what he calls a “perioperative physician”.
An Accidental Calling
Dr. Mukherjee’s path into the specialty began almost by accident, a brief seven-day internship posting in anaesthesiology. What struck him wasn’t the drama of the Operation Theatre, but its precision, watching how completely an anaesthesiologist could control a patient’s state of consciousness for an exact, deliberate duration, while attentively monitoring every organ system throughout. That week was enough to convince him. He describes it simply, by stating – “that was the day I decided to commit to anaesthesiology for the rest of my life”.
Nine Years, One Institution, and a Steady Climb
After completing his MBBS and postgraduation in anaesthesia, Dr. Soumitra Mukherjee joined a renowned institution in Kolkata (NH) as a Junior Fellow in the Department of Cardiac Anaesthesiology and Critical Care. It was there that he completed his PDCC and DrNB, followed by his FIACTA(P) and FTEE fellowships. Rather than stopping at clinical expertise, he went on to complete a certificate course in Hospital Management from IIM Bangalore, before moving to a corporate hospital in Asansol, West Bengal, as Head of the Department of Anaesthesiology and OT In-Charge. He’s currently pursuing a diploma in Medicolegal Law and Ethics from the National Law School of India University, a reflection of how deliberately he’s building expertise beyond pure clinical practice.
What Keeps the Decision Reaffirmed
Being candid about what keeps him going in this field, Dr. Soumitra Mukherjee feels his decision to stay on is a calculated accumulation of challenge, success, and failure, together, that reaffirms his choice daily. He recalls a patient with a difficult airway saved in an emergency, and the visible relief on the faces of a one-day-old infant’s parents after a complex congenital heart surgery, moments that remind him why the stakes of this specialty matter so intensely. Every patient, he says, teaches him something new.
Managing complex congenital and aortic surgeries means operating constantly at the edge of split-second judgment. Dr. Mukherjee sheds light on how difficult it is to stay calm and decisive in that environment, admitting he’s turned to books specifically on maintaining composure in high-pressure situations. During quieter moments, he deliberately reviews his own reactions to past crises in the OT, treating self-correction as an ongoing discipline rather than something achieved once and left behind.
Trust Before Truth
As OT In-Charge, Dr. Mukherjee places heavy emphasis on how risk is communicated to anxious patients and families ahead of complex cardiac procedures. His approach is sequenced deliberately, first explaining the necessity of the surgery and the full anaesthesia plan, including postoperative pain management, often using diagrams or recent journal references to aid understanding. Only once trust is established does he move into the harder conversation, potential risks and complications, and how they would be managed if they arose. He’s particular about detailed informed consent, thorough documentation, and audiovisual counselling, treating transparency not as a formality, but as something earned through the conversation that precedes it.
Where the Specialty Is Headed
Dr. Soumitra Mukherjee sees cardiac anaesthesia expanding well beyond the physical boundaries of the Operation Theatre. He also points to growing recognition of cardiac anaesthesiologists’ expertise in 3D echocardiography, ECMO, alongside a rising number of senior professionals in the field stepping into organisational leadership roles, a shift he sees as a natural evolution of the specialty’s scope.
Beyond the Operation Theatre
Outside medicine, Dr. Mukherjee unwinds with fiction in his rare free hours. He’s unflinchingly honest about the personal cost of his specialty, describing his family’s constant adjustment around his schedule as his greatest source of strength, and something he considers a genuine blessing rather than an assumption.
Looking ahead, he wants to remain focused on continuously learning new skills and developments in the field, while actively encouraging young anaesthesiologists to pursue cardiac care. But his advice comes without any illusions about ease, life as a cardiac anaesthesiologist demands real sacrifice, and families bear part of that cost too. His counsel to those entering the field is direct – face every challenge, whether a critical patient or administrative chaos, head-on, and when an opportunity arises to lead, take it. Don’t let it pass by.
