World Family Doctor's Day - History and Significance

The war against Coronavirus is real and is here to stay for quite some time. So, it’s that time of the year where we celebrate the real heroes out there fighting the long war against COVID-19, for the sake of our safety at the cost of their own. The World family doctor’s day is celebrated across the universe on different dates. In India, it is celebrated on 19th May. With the pandemic still looming over our regular chores, the sheer significance of World family doctor’s day has increased a thousand times. So, this time around, before you wish the doctors and other people around the world a happy World family doctor’s day, it’s important to first identify and understand the importance of this day.

How did it start?

It started way back in 1933, in Georgia - the first ever doctor’s day to be celebrated. This event was basically the brainchild of Eudora Brown Almond, the wife of the famous physician Dr. Charles B. Almond. She decided to set aside this day in order to honour doctors and physicians across the world for all their hard work to bring about medical excellence to our society. Her plan was then recognised by the Georgia State Medical Alliance and was then officially implemented for the first time as a part of important national days on May 10th, 1934 - and thus began the age-old tradition of mailing cards and warm gifts to doctors along with their families on this special day.

Although the role of doctors has actually become all the more significant in the times we’re living in, it was just as important back then as well.  So, this gesture was greatly encouraged and appreciated and George Bush, the then-United States President, went on to designate this day as a national holiday.

World family doctor’s day

Every year, this day is organized with an appropriate theme. Since ‘Building the future with family doctors’ seems to be the focus this year, it is safe to say that it is in accordance with the current pandemic situation. Even last year, the theme was to ‘lessen the mortality of COVID-19’.

As a matter of fact, it is important for people to realize the sacrifices that the medical team make for us day in and day out. With so many people contracting the virus and hospitals being flooded with people - so much so that there’s no more space of accommodating patients, doctors can genuinely be named as superheroes at this point of time. So, let’s take the opportunity to appreciate and encourage the efforts while also recognizing the strength of these doctors with heartfelt messages, delightful tweets and Instagram stories. Here’s to celebrating a contactless World family doctor’s day in the grandest way possible.