What is in news: NATIONAL DOCTORS DAY is observed on July 1 every year. The date marks the birth and death anniversary of a renowned physician and former Chief Minister of West Bengal Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy.

Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy

• Born – 1 July, 1882 in Bihar’s Patna
• After his post graduation in 1911, he went on to become a Member of the Royal College of Physicians (MRCP) and a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons (FRCS).
• Elected as Mayor of Calcutta in 1931
• Joined Mahatma Gandhi’s Civil Disobedience movement, soon becoming his friend and personal physician.
• In May 1933, when Gandhi was undertaking a 21-day fast in Parnakutivin, Poona (now Pune), Roy was by his side and taking care of him.
• After independence, Roy became Governor of Uttar Pradesh and a year later, in 1948, the second Chief Minister of West Bengal. He served until his death on 1 July 1962, dying on the same date on which he was born.
• A year before his death, Roy was honoured with the Bharat Ratna.
• His house was gifted to the public for running a nursing home
• In 1976, the B.C. Roy National Award was instituted in his memory for work in the areas of medicine, politics, science, philosophy, literature and arts.
• Widely credited with making quality health services available to common people, he played an instrumental role in the creation of two prestigious medical institutions in the country — the Indian Medical Association in 1928 and the Medical Council of India, of which he was the first president, between 1939 and 1945. He also helped kickstart the Indian Institute of Mental Health, the Infectious Disease Hospital and Kolkata’s first-ever postgraduate medical college.
• In its obituary, the British Medical Journal described Roy as the “first medical consultant in the subcontinent of India, who towered over his contemporaries in several fields”