"Whatever thy hands findeth to do, do it with thy might".
National Doctors
Day: Dr BC Roy was born on July 1, 1882, & died on July 1, 1962. India
celebrates National Doctors’ Day on this day to recognise and appreciate the
role of doctors serving the nation.
Dr BC Roy Birth And Death Anniversary: Every Year, India celebrates National Doctors’ Day on July 1 to recognise and appreciate the role of doctors serving the nation. The day is marked in memory of Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy, a famous physician and philanthropist who went on to become the chief minister of West Bengal and served on the post from 1948 until his death in 1962.
Dr BC Roy was born on July 1, 1882, and it’s his 140th birth anniversary
on Friday. The day he died in 1962 was his 80th birthday.
On this day, India pays tribute to the late doctor remembered for his
contributions towards the health sector as he is credited with making quality
health services available to common people.
Roy played an instrumental role in the creation of the Indian Medical
Association in 1928 and the Medical Council of India in 1939. He was the first
president of MCI, from 1939 to 1945. Roy helped start the Indian Institute of
Mental Health, the Infectious Disease Hospital and Kolkata’s first postgraduate
medical college.
He is also considered to be one of the makers of contemporary West
Bengal due to his key role in developing cities and urban clusters like
Durgapur, Kalyani, Bidhannagar, and Ashoknagar.
BC Roy As A Doctor
Born in a Bengali family in Patna, Roy completed his schooling from
Patna Collegiate School. He went to Kolkata (then Calcutta) and did his
graduation from Calcutta Medical College.
His medical career as a physician began after his post-graduation in
1911.
Roy later joined the Calcutta Medical College as a faculty member. It is
said that when he was in medical school he had come across an inscription that
said "Whatever thy hands findeth to do, do it with thy might." This
became a lifelong motivation for him.
He went on to become a Member of the Royal College of Physicians (MRCP)
and did Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons (FRCS) from London.
Roy later joined the provincial health service and taught at the
Campbell Medical School. He resigned from government service in 1919 to become
the chair of medicine at Carmichael (now RG Kar) Medical College.
The obituary recalled how “even at his busiest times as a political
administrator Roy would fit in a few patients, often at no fee”.
Political Journey
When Roy was at the peak of his career, India’s struggle for independence
was also gaining momentum.
In 1925, he started his political career, and even succeeded Subhas
Chandra Bose as the Mayor of Calcutta in 1931.
BC Roy & Mohandas Gandhi ji :
He had joined Mahatma Gandhi during the Civil Disobedience Movement of
1930, and was both a friend and a doctor to Gandhi. When Gandhi was undertaking
a 21-day fast in Parnakutivin in Poona (now Pune) in May 1933, Roy was by his
side.
During that fast, Gandhi refused to take medicine on the grounds it was not
swadeshi. “Why should I take your treatment? Do you treat 400
million of my countrymen free?” he asked Dr. Roy.
Dr.
Roy replied, “No, I could not treat all patients free. But I came not to treat
Mohandas Gandhi, but to treat “him” who to me represents the 400 million people
of my country.” Gandhi said in jest, “You are arguing like a third-class
lawyer in a mofussil (district) court,” and eventually relented.
He was part of the Congress, and was even promoted as a member of the
Congress Working Committee. Roy, however, never ceased to be a doctor. “He kept
his practice alive and took care to cultivate the image of the legendary doctor
who added value to the Congress movement,” Jawhar Sircar, former culture
secretary, Government of India, wrote in wire.in.
After India gained Independence, Roy was appointed the governor of Uttar
Pradesh, before he became the second chief minister of West Bengal.
He succeeded Subhas
Chandra Bose in 1931
Post independence, he became Governor
of Uttar Pradesh.
BC Roy and NEHRU
He
was Nehru’s trusted consultant on politics and health. He called PM Nehru with
his first name, ‘Jawahar’. The Washington Times-Herald in 1962 quoted,
“Roy is tall enough to ask Nehru to obey medical orders.” Roy was one of the
very few who had unhindered access to Nehru’s private chambers at Teen Murti
Bhavan (Nehru’s official residence).
Homage to DR BC ROY: On
1 July 1962, his 80th birthday, after treating his morning patients and
discharging affairs of the State, he took a copy of “Brahmo Geet” and sang a piece
from it. 11 hours later he died.
Nehru
gave a tearful homage to Roy. He famously said: “Bidhan Roy was a tall man,
much taller than me.” He served as CM until his death on 1 July 1962, dying on
the same date on which he was born.
After
his death, he willed his house as a nursing home after his mother,
Aghorkamini Devi. He had also formed a trust for his properties at Patna to
carry out social services.
Accolade to DR BC ROY:
He established 8 leading medical
institutions in Calcutta – R.G. Kar Medical College,
Jadavpur T.B. Hosp, Chittaranjan Seva Sadan, Kamala Nehru Hospital, Victoria
Institution, Chittaranjan Cancer Hospital, Indian Institute of Mental Health,
Infectious Disease Hospital and the first-ever postgraduate medical college in
Calcutta.
It
was his belief that ONLY A HEALTHY PERSON, STRONG in BOTH MIND and BODY, could
ever hope to achieve India’s Swaraj.
THE FOUNDER OF 3 CITIES
He FOUNDED the cities Bidhannagar (Salt
Lake City) of North 24 Parganas in Greater Kolkata region – the most
populated district in the whole of India – and the
planned city of Kalyani (previously “Roosevelt Nagar”), and Ashok Nagar- Habra urban
settlement for refugees.
BC Roy was also a journalist and was the founding
chairman of the United Press of India.
The
B.C. Roy National Award was instituted in 1962 and
has been awarded annually since 1976, recognizing excellent contributions in
the areas of medicine, politics, science, philosophy, literature and arts.
Eulogy:
Dr Roy was honoured with Bharat Ratna on February 4,1961.
The next year, on his 80th birthday he died after treating his morning
patients.
His house was gifted to the public after his death, to run a nursing
home. In 1976, the MCI instituted the BC Roy National Award in his memory for
work in the areas of medicine, politics, science, philosophy, literature and
arts.
India’s
NATIONAL DOCTORS’ DAY on 1 July honors Bharat Ratna Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy, a
renowned physician and West Bengal’s 2nd CM, whose birthday and death
anniversary fall on the same day. He was born on 1 July 1882 to a Bengali family in Bankipore in Patna.
His father,
Prakash Chandra Roy, was an excise inspector, who was a descendant of Maharaja
Pradapaditya, the rebel Hindu king of Jessore (now Jashore District in Bangladesh).
He was one of the most powerful Zamindars of Bengal, before being crushed by
the Mughals. However, he did not inherit much wealth from his ancestors. His
mother, Aghorkamini Devi, was a social worker. He was the youngest of 5
siblings.
Bidhan obtained a B.A. degree with honors in Mathematics in
Patna College. He got admission in Indian Institute of Engineering Science and
Technology as well as at Calcutta Medical College, but he chose Calcutta
Medical College. This was in 1901.
Life at Calcutta Medical College was very difficult. He had to earn
enough money to support himself as his father was no longer in service. He
earned scholarships to bear the cost of his studies.
Bidhan left for Britain in 1909 with Rs. 1200 to enroll in St.
Bartholomew’s Hospital. The dean was reluctant to accept an Asian student and
rejected Bidhan’s application. Bidhan reapplied and was repeatedly
rejected. But “Whatever thy hands findeth to do, do it with thy might”,
isn’t it? It was on his 30th admission application that
Bidhan was admitted!
RAREST OF THE RARE FEAT -He became a member of Royal College of Physicians and a fellow of Royal College of Surgeons simultaneously – MRCP and FRCS, which he did in 2.3 years, a rarest of the rare feat. He returned home in 1911.
BC ROY AND THE YOUTH - Bidhan felt the youth must not take part in strikes and fasts but should study and commit themselves to social work, as the youth of India would determine its future.
Hope that every doctor,politician,
social activist, scholar might inspire from the thoughts&deeds of the
legendary towering personality sri.Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy...
Hope that every doctor,politician, social activist, scholar might inspire from the thoughts&deeds of the legendary towering personality sri.Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy...
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