National Doctors' Day is a day celebrated to recognize the contributions of
physician
A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
s to individual lives and
communities
A community is a Level of analysis, social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place (geography), place, Norm (social), norms, religion, values, Convention (norm), customs, or Identity (social science), identity. Communiti ...
. The date varies from nation to nation depending on the event of commemoration used to mark the day. In some nations the day is marked as a
holiday
A holiday is a day set aside by custom or by law on which normal activities, especially business or work including school, are suspended or reduced. Generally, holidays are intended to allow individuals to celebrate or commemorate an event or tra ...
. Although supposed to be celebrated by
patients
A patient is any recipient of health care services that are performed by healthcare professionals. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, nurse, optometrist, dentist, veterinarian, or other health c ...
in and benefactors of the
healthcare industry
The healthcare industry (also called the medical industry or health economy) is an aggregation and integration of sectors within the economic system that provides goods and services to treat patients with curative, preventive, rehabilitative, a ...
, it is usually celebrated by
health care organization
Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health pro ...
s. Staff may organize a lunch for doctors to present the physicians with tokens of recognition. Historically, a card or red carnation may be sent to physicians and their spouses, along with a flower being placed on the graves of deceased
physician
A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
s.
Celebrating nations
Australia
In
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
, there are various dates on which National Doctor’s Day may be recognized, the most participated being the 30th of March.
Kuwait
In
Kuwait
Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...
, National Doctor’s Day is celebrated on the 3rd of March. The idea of this celebration came for the Kuwaiti business woman; Zahra Sulaiman Al-Moussawi. And the date was chosen due to it being the birthday of Dr. Sundus Al-Mazidi, her daughter.
Brazil
In
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, National Doctors' Day is celebrated as a holiday on October 18, the day on which the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
celebrates the birthday of
Saint Luke
Luke the Evangelist (Latin: '' Lucas''; grc, Λουκᾶς, '' Loukâs''; he, לוקאס, ''Lūqās''; arc, /ܠܘܩܐ לוקא, ''Lūqā’; Ge'ez: ሉቃስ'') is one of the Four Evangelists—the four traditionally ascribed authors of t ...
. According to the
Church Tradition the apostle and Evangelist Saint Luke was a doctor, as it is written in the New Testament (Colossians 4:14).
Canada
National Physicians' Day is celebrated in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
on May 1. The date was chosen by the
Canadian Medical Association
The Canadian Medical Association (CMA; french: Association médicale canadienne, AMC) is a national, voluntary association of physicians and medical learners that advocates on national health matters. Its primary mandate is to drive positive ch ...
in recognition of
Dr. Emily Stowe, the first female physician to practice in Canada. Senate Public Bill S-248 will officially recognise the day, if enacted.
China
is celebrated as a national holiday in
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
on August 19 annually. The date was selected by the National Health and Family Planning Commission of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the 2016 National Health and Wellness Conference of China and was approved by in State Council of the PRC on November 20, 2017. The significance of Chinese Doctor's Day is to recognize the great contributions of Chinese doctors to their community and society, encourage the health workers to positively advocate the noble spirit of ‘respect for life, heal the wounded and save the dying, be willing to contribute, and love without boundaries', and further promote the development of a harmony atmosphere of respect for doctors in the whole society, and accelerate the in-depth implementation of the Healthy China strategy.
Cuba
In
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
, National Doctors' Day is celebrated as a holiday on December 3 to commemorate the birthday of
Carlos Juan Finlay
Carlos Juan Finlay (December 3, 1833 – August 20, 1915) was a Cuban epidemiologist recognized as a pioneer in the research of yellow fever, determining that it was transmitted through mosquitoes ''Aedes aegypti''.
Biography
Early life and ...
. Carlos J. Finlay (December 3, 1833 – August 6, 1915) was a Cuban physician and scientist recognized as a pioneer in
yellow fever
Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. In ...
research. He was the first to theorize, in 1881, that a mosquito was a carrier, now known as a
disease vector
In epidemiology, a disease vector is any living agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen to another living organism; agents regarded as vectors are organisms, such as parasites or microbes. The first major discovery of a disease vec ...
, of the organism causing yellow fever: a mosquito that bites a victim of the disease could subsequently bite and thereby infect a healthy person. A year later Finlay identified a mosquito of the genus
Aedes
''Aedes'' is a genus of mosquitoes originally found in tropical and subtropical zones, but now found on all continents except perhaps Antarctica. Some species have been spread by human activity: ''Aedes albopictus'', a particularly invasive spe ...
as the organism transmitting yellow fever. His theory was followed by the recommendation to control the mosquito population as a way to control the spread of the sickness.
El Salvador
Starting in 1969, National Doctor's Day has been celebrated in
El Salvador
El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...
, as per legislative decree, on July 14th to commemorate the day the College of Physicians of El Salvador was founded (July 14th 1943).
India
All across India National Doctors' Day is celebrated on July 1 in memory of
Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy, physician and the second
Chief Minister of West Bengal. He was born on July 1, 1882 and died on the same date in 1962.
Indonesia
Hari Dokter Nasional or National Doctor's Day is celebrated in Indonesia on 24 October each year. The day also marked with the birthday celebration of the Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI).
Iran
In
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
,
Avicenna's birthday (Iranian Month: Shahrivar 1st=August 23) is commemorated as the national day for doctors.
Malaysia
In
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
, Doctors Day is celebrated on the 10th of October every year. It was first launched by th
Federation of Private Medical Practitioners Associations Malaysia in 2014.
Turkey
In
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
, it is celebrated as Medicine Day on the 14th of March every year since 1919.
United States
In the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, National Doctors' Day is a day on which the service of physicians to the nation is recognized annually. The idea came from Eudora Brown Almond, wife of Dr. Charles B. Almond, and the date chosen was the anniversary of the first use of general
anesthesia
Anesthesia is a state of controlled, temporary loss of sensation or awareness that is induced for medical or veterinary purposes. It may include some or all of analgesia (relief from or prevention of pain), paralysis (muscle relaxation), ...
in
surgery
Surgery ''cheirourgikē'' (composed of χείρ, "hand", and ἔργον, "work"), via la, chirurgiae, meaning "hand work". is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a person to investigate or treat a pat ...
. On March 30, 1842, in
Jefferson, Georgia
Jefferson is a city in Jackson County, Georgia, United States. The population was 9,432 at the 2010 census, up from 3,825 at the 2000 census. As of 2019 the estimated population was 12,032. The city is the county seat of Jackson County.
History ...
,
Dr. Crawford Long used
ether
In organic chemistry, ethers are a class of compounds that contain an ether group—an oxygen atom connected to two alkyl or aryl groups. They have the general formula , where R and R′ represent the alkyl or aryl groups. Ethers can again be c ...
to anesthetize a patient, James Venable, and painlessly excised a tumor from his neck.
Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
founded Doctor's Day on February 28, 1955. The day is celebrated on February 27 or sometimes dates closest to this date.
Venezuela
March 10 is Venezuelan Doctor’s day. This day was chosen to honor
José María Vargas
José María Vargas Ponce (10 March 1786, in La Guaira – 13 April 1854, in New York City) was the president of Venezuela from 1835 to 1836. Vargas was Venezuela's first civilian president.
He graduated with a degree in philosophy from the S ...
, who was not only an outstanding physician but also a President of the Republic of Venezuela.
Nepal
Nepal
Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...
also celebrates Nepali National Doctor Day on Nepali date Falgun 20 (4 March). Since the establishment of Nepal Medical Association, Nepal has organized this day every year. The doctor-patient communication, clinical treatment, and community-based health promotion and care is discussed.
History
The first Doctors’ Day observance was March 28, 1933, in
Winder, Georgia
Winder (pronounced WINE-der) is a city and the county seat of Barrow County, Georgia, United States. It is located east of Atlanta and is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. The population was 18,338 at the 2020 census.
History
The Georgia Gene ...
. This first observance included the mailing of cards to the physicians and their wives, flowers placed on graves of deceased doctors, including Dr. Long, and a formal dinner in the home of Dr. and Mrs. William T. Randolph. After the Barrow County Alliance adopted Mrs. Almond's resolution to pay tribute to the doctors, the plan was presented to the Georgia State Medical Alliance in 1933 by Mrs. E. R. Harris of Winder, president of the Barrow County Alliance. On May 10, 1934, the resolution was adopted at the annual state meeting in Augusta, Georgia. The resolution was introduced to the Women's Alliance of the Southern Medical Association at its 29th annual meeting held in St. Louis, Missouri, November 19–22, 1935, by the Alliance president, Mrs. J. Bonar White. Since then, Doctors' Day has become an integral part of and synonymous with, the Southern Medical Association Alliance.
The United States Senate and House of Representatives passed S.J. RES. #366 during the
101st United States Congress
The 101st United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from January 3, 1989 ...
, which
President Bush signed on October 30, 1990 (creating Public Law 101-473), designating Doctors' Day as a national holiday to be celebrated on March 30.
Dr. Marion Mass along with Dr. Kimberly Jackson and Dr. Christina Lang applied to officially have physicians day changed to physicians week. This was accepted in March 2017.
In 2017 Physicians Working Together (PWT, founded by Dr. Kimberly Jackson) sponsored a series of articles in celebration of National Physicians week that were hosted on KevinMD.
In 2018 PWT along with Openxmed sponsored a free online conference focusing on physician well being and advocacy. In 2019, PWT and Openxmed sponsored a scholarship program for medical students and residents. The week long event focuses on advocacy and supporting the physician community.
References
;Sources
* http://www.doctorsday.org/
* http://www.doctorsday.org/Doctors-Day-History.html
* http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=47267
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c101:S.J.RES.366.ENR:
External links
National Doctors' Day in United States* {{cite web, title=Doctor's Day History, url=http://www.doctorsday.org/History.html, website=www.doctorsday.org
March observances
July observances
August observances
Observances in the United States
December observances
Health observances