Through My Lens: Dr. Amitabha Reflects on Heart Care Training Visit to Children’s Minnesota

In December 2024, two doctors from Narayana Superspecialty Hospital in Howrah, India, a Children’s HeartLink partner, visited their medical volunteer team at Children’s Minnesota, USA. Visits like this give doctors the opportunity to see medical volunteers in action at home and take back learnings to their own hospitals. Through these photographs and reflections, Dr. Amitabha Chattopadhyay, senior consultant pediatric cardiologist at NSH, shares insights, surprises and gratitude for this transformative experience in his own words.

As a physician, this visit has furthered my journey to imbibe the methodology and the working strategies of the pediatric cardiology team at Children’s Minnesota.

The procedures that we do at our hospital are done at Children’s Minnesota a bit more methodically. The ready availability of certain instruments are definitely an issue where we work. Seeing how the Children’s Minnesota team worked showed how the proper utilization, application, maintenance and replacement of the ones available to us can be made more methodical.

We are indebted to the team at Children’s Minnesota for their willingness to work alongside us and help us build our skills. Thanks to all Children’s HeartLink team members. The team at Children’s Minnesota were extremely cooperative and helpful. A very special thanks to Dr. David Overman, Dr. David Gremmels, Dr. David Dassenko, Dr. Niyati Patel, Dr. Marko Vezmar, Dr. Charles Shepard, Dr. Angela Kelle and Dr. Ian Thomas for explaining their departmental procedures in detail to us. Thank you to all the doctors, nurses and staff and of course the generous supporters of Children’s HeartLink who made this visit possible.

We had many surprises during our visit! First, we were delighted by the snow that arrived during our stay. India does have plenty of snow in the Himalayas and the sub-Himalayan regions, but as we both come from areas which are devoid of it, the fresh snow was a surprise for both of us.

We were also able to observe Christmas carols, the bonhomie and the beautiful decorations on the streets. There were plenty of kids and pets, which were pleasant to see. The choirs and bands at the malls were really nice, with children singing together. One of the most pleasant surprises was the travelling of pets along with their owners on the flights.

We also didn’t know that bus tickets are to be procured before embarking… hence we asked for a ticket after boarding a bus. The bus driver politely refused and we did get a free ride. Another true sign of “Minnesota nice,” in addition to our hosts’ hospitality: At one point, I had left one of my belongings on an Uber cab, and the driver returned it to my hotel on request.

The timings at Children’s Minnesota were perfect and commendable, from start to finish. An often neglected fact in our hospital is a proper work/life balance, which seems to be much fairer for the Children’s Minnesota team. Notwithstanding the fact that everyone is hardworking, still they manage to devote a lot of time at home. In the dinner parties we had, the human nature of the several facets of life across the global community was apparent – which was a pleasant surprise to us.

My time at Children’s Minnesota has left a profound impact on me, both professionally and personally. I returned to India with a wealth of knowledge, new ideas to implement, and cherished memories of a snowy winter and warm hospitality.

This training visit, supported by Children’s HeartLink donors, enabled global collaboration and exchange in medicine. While challenges in pediatric heart care vary across regions, the shared learning afforded by visits like this continues to help medical teams overcome them together and save the lives of children with congenital heart disease. We thank. Dr. Amitabha for being so generous with his time in sharing his experience and photographs and thank Children’s Minnesota and the team for hosting two visiting doctors in December.