Vietnamese Physicians' Day
Next: February 27, 2027
A good doctor, like a loving mother.
The story
Where it comes from
On 27 February 1955 Ho Chi Minh sent a letter to a conference of health workers in Hanoi. Patients, he wrote, entrust their lives to doctors and nurses, who should care for them as they would for their own brothers and sisters. He ended with an old saying: lương y phải như từ mẫu, 'a good doctor must be like a loving mother'. Because of that letter, on 6 February 1985 Viet Nam's Council of Ministers made 27 February each year Ngày Thầy thuốc Việt Nam, Vietnamese Physicians' Day.
How it's celebrated
Across Viet Nam the day honours doctors, nurses and everyone who works in health care, in the spirit of the letter that inspired it. For patients and families it is a natural moment to thank the people who looked after them, with a card, a few flowers or simply a kind word.
Did you know
- Between 1947 and 1967 Ho Chi Minh wrote more than 20 letters to the country's health workers.
- He used the saying about a loving mother in a letter to military doctors as early as 1948.
- The 1985 decision that created the day was numbered 39/HĐBT.
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