IU Health Starke Hospital Celebrates Doctors Day

Dr.  Mangalore Subba Rao and IU Health Starke Hospital President Craig Felty
Dr. Mangalore Subba Rao and IU Health Starke Hospital President Craig Felty

Local physicians were the guests of honor Friday morning at IU Health Starke Hospital. The administration hosted a breakfast in the cafeteria to celebrate Doctor’s Day, which is actually Sunday, March 30.

Doctor’s Day was first celebrated in 1933. That date was chosen because on March 30, 1842 Dr. Crawford Williamson Long first used general anesthesia in surgery. He used ether on a patient who was having a tumor removed from his neck. Long went on to use anesthesia in both amputations and childbirth. In 1990 President George H.W. Bush officially made the date a holiday to recognize the nation’s physicians.

Doctor’s Day Highlights Hospitalist Dr. Alfran

Yesterday was Doctor’s Day throughout the country, and Dr. Almuhammad Alfran, a Hospitalist at IU Health Starke Hospital, explained a bit about the gratification he gets from being a physician.

“I appreciate Doctor’s Day because I get the impression that people really appreciate what we do. I tell you the biggest reward for a doctor though is when they see the patient improve, or you see a look of satisfaction in the eyes of a patient. I think this is the greatest reward we can get as physicians,” Alfran said.

Alfran explained what the duties of a hospitalist are.

“A hospitalist is a specialist of hospital medicine. A physician who specializes in treating patients in the hospital, as compared to an outpatient physician who spends most of the time in the clinic. When they have free time they can stop by the hospital and check on their patients. For the hospitalist this is a physician who dedicates the entire day to working in the hospital. So when the patient is in the hospital the hospitalist is there, and the primary care physician is there when the patient needs him or her,” Alfran said.

Today is Doctor’s Day!

This is Doctor’s Day – a day set aside to honor all doctors in the United States.

At IU Health Starke Hospital, there are 125 doctors on staff, providing care in 26 specialties.

Dr. Phillip Hassan is the President of the Medical Staff and is also an Emergency Room Doctor. We asked Dr. Hassan about the duties of the President of the Medical Staff.

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