Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 1: National Doctor’s Day was celebrated today with great enthusiasm at Shri Maharaja Gulab Singh (SMGS) Hospital Jammu, where a programme was organized to honour doctors by Swarangan Meditation Charitable Trust.
During the function which was organized under the guidance of Raj Kumar Dogra (Executive Director, Swarangan Meditation Charitable Trust), Medical Superintendent of the Hospital Dr Dara Singh, Deputy Medical Superintendent Dr Rakesh Sharma, Dr Reema Khajuria and other senior doctors were honoured by the Trust.
Speaking on the occasion, Raj Kumar Dogra said that National Doctors’ Day is celebrated on July 1 every year in the memory of India’s first medical consultant and former Chief Minister of West Bengal – Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy, also known as Dr BC Roy, who was also a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi and contributed actively to India’s freedom fight.
He said that doctors are considered as next to God. Be it floods of 2014 or COVID-19 pandemic, doctors have stood out and proved themselves the true warriors and saviours of humanity,” he said. He said during the Covid-19 pandemic situation even the close relatives of patients were scared of the virus transmission but it was doctors who stood up to the challenge.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Dara Singh urged all the doctors to continue to work with the same zeal and dedication in future as well. He wished all doctors, who work hard and put in great efforts to treat their patients and bring smiles on their faces.
Meanwhile, on Doctors’ Day, the Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) urged the doctors to prioritize the rebuilding of patient trust, which, it said, has been significantly eroded over the years. In a statement issued today, DAK president Dr Nisar-ul-Hassan expressed concern about the deteriorating doctor-patient relationship, emphasizing the need to restore the once-revered bond between healthcare providers and patients.
The DAK president emphasized the importance of empathy and compassion in addition to medical competence, stating, “No matter how competent a doctor is, he/she cannot be a good doctor unless he is a caring person.” He added, “Patients recover their health simply through the contentment with the goodness of a doctor.”
President of Doctors Association Jammu (DAJ), Dr Balvinder Singh congratulated the doctors on National Doctors’ Day. “Being a doctor now-a-days is an act of unabated selflessness. The moments that the doctors have faced during COVID times have been harrowing and often thankless,” he added and hoped that doctors will continue to do medical miracles and save precious lives.