National Doctor’s Day 2020 In India – All You Need To Know About It

The purpose behind celebrating the National Doctor’s Day is to acknowledge the contributions of the physicians in our lives and express gratitude for their relentless efforts at serving people. Though the date of the day’s celebration remains unique for most of the countries, the motto behind the celebration is universal.

Especially, amid the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, the way the health workers have been on the frontline as the corona-warriors, gives us all the more reason to be immensely indebted for their contribution in our society.

Significance in India

In India, the 1^st day of July every year is earmarked as the National Doctor’s Day. The day commemorates the birth and death anniversary of Dr.Bidhan Chandra Roy (1882-1962) who was a noteworthy medical practitioner by profession.

Dr.Bidhan Chandra Roy was also the second Chief Minister of the state of West Bengal and served the state for 14 years. He was bestowed with the Highest Civilian Award of India ‘Bharat Ratna’ in 1961 recognizing his impeccable contribution towards society. As a member of the Indian National Congress, he took part in India’s freedom struggle and was an ardent participant of the Civil Disobedience Movement.

In 1991, the government of India officially decided to celebrate the day as the National Doctor’s day for the first time as an homage to Dr. Roy. Dr. Roy has also been one of the architects behind the formation of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) which is also responsible for celebrating the day across India.

Last year, the doctor-patient bond in India reached its nadir owing to several untoward incidences of physician assault at the hands of patients’ families across the country. Whereas negligence and ineptness on the part of certain health-care providers are not unknown, blaming it on the entire doctors’ community is both unacceptable and unnecessary.

In order to mitigate the doctor-patient distrust, last year the Indian Medical Association (IMA) celebrated the day’s theme as ‘Zero tolerance to violence against doctors and clinical establishment’. This year it has been themed as ‘Lessen the mortality of Covid-19’. The theme is meant to both applaud the health-care providers for their effort at combating the virus and raise awareness about the possible preventive measures.

“India salutes our doctors- exceptional caregivers who are at the forefront of a spirited fight against COVID-19. #doctorsday2020”, tweeted the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi on the special occasion.

Genesis of Doctor’s Day

Doctors’ Day was first formally observed on March 30, 1933, in Winder, Georgia, United States. For the first time in surgical history, Dr. Crawford Long applied ether to numb a patient while removing a tumor from a patient’s neck on March 30, 1842, in Jefferson. Wife of Dr. Charles B. Almond, Eudora Brown Almond wished to commemorate the first use of general anesthesia in surgery.

The Barrow County (Georgia) Medical Society Auxiliary celebrated it the first time by sending greetings cards to the doctors and their families and by decorating flowers on the graves of the late doctors, including that of Dr. Long’s.

The U.S. House of Representatives adopted a resolution to commemorate Doctors’ Day on March 30, 1958. It was only in 1990, the U.S. Congress approved legislation of commemoration of National Doctors’ Day on 30^th March. In 1991, for the first time, National Doctors’ Day was celebrated.

Celebration Worldwide

Here is the list of a few countries worldwide where doctor’s days are celebrated on various days to commemorate different occasions.

• Kuwait (3rd March) – Birthday of Dr. Sundus Al-Mazidi, daughter of well-known businesswoman Zahra Sulaiman Al-Moussawi.
• Brazil (18th October) –  Catholic Church celebrates the birthday of physician Saint Luke, mentioned in the New Testament.
• Canada (1st May) – Recognizes Dr. Emily Stowe, the first female medical practitioner of the country.
• Cuba (3rd December) – Birthday of Carlos Juan Finlay, the pioneer of research on yellow fever
• Iran (23rd August) – Birthday of Ibn Sina, also known as Avicenna in the West, who happened to be a celebrated thinker, physician, and astronomer of the Islamic Golden Age.
• Malaysia (10th October) – Launched by the Federation of Private Medical Practitioners Associations in 2014.
• Nepal (4th March) – Establishment of the Nepal Medical Association.
• The United States (30th March) – Anniversary of the first use of general anesthesia in surgery.

“Medicines cure diseases, but only doctors can cure patients,” said Carl Jung, the father of analytical psychology. It is the doctor-patient bond of trust that builds the backbone of the healthcare system among other things.

It is the responsibility of society to help the bond to grow stronger. Not only are the medical practitioners responsible for ensuring the best care for the patients but also of the patients to treat them with respect and dignity.

It is true that the poor medical infrastructure in India is gravely responsible for depriving both the doctors and the patients of giving and gaining the best possible care, respectively. Still, attempting to become better citizens of the country may solve at least a part of the problem!