- Florence Sharma
Sometimes our journey ends at the end of a green-corridor. With a sense of very much urgency, someone waits there for us, we may reach their as a human (receiver) or in the form of a human-organ (donor). Yes dear learned readers, I am talking about the Doctors.
After brain death of two close friends (the famous case of Meet and Krish from Surat (Gujrat), 24-28 Aug 2021) following a bike accident, the organs of both friends saved the lives of thirteen human resources. Four green corridors were created to transport lungs, heart, livers and kidneys of two friends to four different destination hospitals in Hyderabad and Ahmedabad in a stipulated time period. [The concept of Green Corridors has been applied in India since 2014. A ‘Green Corridor’ can be understood as a special route making the route of the hospital where an organ is harvested and the hospital where it is to be transplanted, very much traffic-free for a particular time period. It is manually operated / controlled in coordination with police, healthcare sector and Aviation / transport department.] Doctors are the epicenter of this kind of noble events.
Life is not in the hand of human, but death is in the hands of God. God has transferred some of his miracle skills to a human being by making him/ her doctor. Doctors’ are said as of next to God. With the help of the wonders of science, doctors are able to reach in today’s remarkable position.
Doctors’ Day is observed to recognize the contributions of physicians towards the needy community. A doctor is bestowed with the eye to speculate and cure weakness in mankind. S/He gives us hope when we are in trouble. We feel so blessed to have them. The date varies from country to country based on the event of commemoration selected to mark the day of this event. For example, in Brazil, it is celebrated on 18th October. In this day, Catholic Church celebrates the birthday of a doctor – “Saint Luke” as mentioned in the New Testament (Colossians 4:14). However, in India, this is celebrated on 1st July in memory of Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy (a legendary physician and the second Chief Minister of West Bengal) – who was born on 1st July, 1882 and died on the same date in 1962. This Doctor’s Day in India was started in 1991 by the then Government of India.
Dr. B C Roy was a highly respected doctor, philanthropist, politician and famous educationist of our country as well as a freedom fighter. He participated in the movements / Civil Disobedience Movement lead by Mahatma Gandhi, and always took care of Gandhiji in his fasting events. Dr Roy was awarded the Bharat Ratna Award in February 1961. Later on, “Dr. BC Roy National Award” was instituted in 1976 to remember him. As Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy hailed from West Bengal, the grand event is organized at the Doctors’ Day at Rotary Club in the State capital – Calcutta.
It is to be mentioned that, in the colonial period, India was facing poverty on a huge basis. Dr. Roy, the philanthropist, charged almost nil or very little to his patients. He also conducted various health campaigns free of cost.
At first, the idea of observing a National Doctors’ Day was proposed by Eudora Brown, the wife of Dr. Charles B. Almonds. The first Doctors’ Day in the globe was observed on March 30, 1933, in Winder, Georgia, US. In 2017 on the appeal of Dr. Marion Mass and Dr. Kimberly Jackson the Physicians’ Day was changed to the Physicians’ Week. Some countries observe a holiday on this day. But doctors do not have any holiday, they always remain available on call 24/7 for the community.
The theme of National Doctors Day – 2022 in India is: “Family Doctors on the Front Line “. In honor of all those doctors and healthcare professionals, this theme has been adopted for this year and given an extra remarkable position to the noble role of our Family Doctors. We get them always near to us before moving for any specialized care, if required by us.
Small to big events are organized in health care industry / hospitals / society / clubs, sometimes in co-ordination with several NGOs, in our country to celebrate this day. Example may be like –organizing free medical checkup camps for the general public / senior citizens; general screening test camps among poor and senior citizens; free blood test, ECG, EEG, blood pressure checkup; health counseling, talks on nutrition & health / chronic diseases. Some activities like discussing medical topics, quiz competition, sports activities, panel discussion by experts for how to make the medical profession more reliable and more responsible etc are organized at the level of schools, colleges, universities may be organized to encourage more young students towards joining the dedicated noble medical profession. Sometimes award for the doctors may be offered for their special contributions. Etc. This way we are to inspire others to respect and acknowledge the sacrifice & efforts of doctors for the overall well-being of our society.
In the year 2019 National Doctors Day was celebrated with the theme “Zero tolerance to violence against doctors and clinical establishment“. It is carrying an appeal to stop violence against doctors. Laws are coming up now to protect them.
We must pledge to ourselves that we will never dishonor the profession of a doctor. Our learned society also tries to promote the development of a harmony atmosphere of respect for doctors in the whole society.
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[This article “LOVE WITHOUT BOUNDARIES …” by Florence Sharma tries to summaries few vital points related to the main topic – Doctor’s Day. She is from Central School (KV) no -1, Itanagar. She can be reached through e-mail : [email protected], and twitter : @Florencee_19 ]
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