01/07/2026
When I think of a doctor, I don't first think of white coats, clinics, or degrees.
I think of my father, Dr Kamalesh Chandra Roy.
Every year on 1st July, India celebrates National Doctors' Day in honour of the extraordinary physician Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy,...
...a doctor whose life symbolised compassion, service, and nation-building.
Fittingly, he was born and passed away on the same date, making 1st July a reminder that medicine is not just a profession; it is a lifelong commitment to humanity.
For me, this day has always been deeply personal.
As the first dentist of my district town Berhampore, Murshidabad in West Bengal, my Dad chose a path that was never about prestige.
It was about people.
Over the decades, he has dedicated his life to relieving pain, restoring smiles, and serving those who needed care the most.
Growing up, I saw dentistry not as a business, but as an act of compassion.
I watched patients place their trust in him, and I watched him treat every individual with dignity—often helping beyond what was expected, never measuring his work only by what he earned, but by the difference he made in someone's life.
During my years of clinical practice later I have witnessed patients crying with folded hands in front of his photoframe when they learnt about his journey to heavenly abode.
His philanthropy was never loud.
It lived quietly in countless acts of kindness, in the patients he refused to turn away, and in the belief that healthcare should always carry humanity at its heart.
Perhaps that is where my own journey began.
Today, whether I write about science, communicate health research, or build platforms that make healthcare conversations more accessible, I realise I am simply carrying forward the values I first witnessed in my father: service, empathy, and the belief that knowledge is meaningful only when it helps people.
This Doctors' Day, I celebrate not only all the doctors who dedicate their lives to healing, but especially the man who taught me that the greatest legacy of a healthcare professional is not the number of patients treated—it is the number of lives touched in any format.
