Sachindra Ghosh was born in Calcutta, India, on 20 June 1928, the son of a marine official in the British India Steam Navigation Company. He received his early schooling in Calcutta, attended Calcutta Science College where he obtained a BSc, and graduated MB BS from the National Medical College in 1959. After house surgeon and house physician posts in Calcutta he came to England in 1962 and after initial experience in general practice in Nuneaton decided to follow a surgical career. He had a wide experience as a surgical registrar in general, cardiothoracic and orthopaedic surgery at various centres in the West Midlands and was ultimately appointed as a clinical assistant in accident and emergency surgery at Walsall General Hospital. Ghosh obtained the FRCS Edinburgh in 1969 and the FRCS in 1971. In 1974 he married, and he and his wife, Mallika, who was also a doctor, had a son, Sandip. Ghosh was keenly interested in football, gardening, cooking and photography. He was devoted to his family and loved sports cars and travelling. He died of cancer on 28 July 1992.