Mohandas K. Gandhi’s physician Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy, with Gandhi during his 3-week fast over his confinement by the British. (1943 Poona India)
Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy, M.R.C.P., F.R.C.S. was the second Chief Minister of West Bengal in India. He remained in his post for 14 years as a Indian National Congress candidate, from 1948 until his death in 1962. He was a highly respected physician and a renowned freedom fighter. Bidhan Roy is widely considered as the great architect of West Bengal, who had founded two eminent cities Kalyani and Bidhannagar. He was an alumnus of the Medical College Calcutta of the University of Calcutta. He is one of the few people who completed both F.R.C.S. and M.R.C.P. simultaneously within only two years and three months. In India, the National Doctor’s Day is celebrated on the date of his birth (and death) July 1 every year. Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy constituted a trust for his properties at Patna for social service and made eminent nationalist Ganga Sharan Singh (Sinha) the trustee.He won the Bharat Ratna in 4 February 1961, India’s highest civilian honour.