Doctors of The Past

Doctors of the past

Image Credit:”The Doctor Luke Fildes crop” by Luke Fildes ,via Wikimedia Commons –

These days we have special doctors and hospitals to take care of all our illnesses. Dentists for teeth problems, pediatricians for the sick children, foot doctors, doctors who help in the birth of babies, dermatologists for skin infections and the bone doctors.

There are hospitals everywhere where you could run to and get yourself checked in case of an emergency, but all this is fairly recent. Not long ago all the doctors were family doctors. They were trained to treat all kinds of illnesses, unlike now where every doctor has to be trained in a special field. Every town depended on one or two doctors. There were no hospitals then.

So where did the people go when they wanted a treatment? Well, they did not go anywhere. There was no waiting in the waiting rooms to see a doctor when you were unwell. The doctors visited them. Cool! Sometimes if a surgery needed to be performed right away, it was performed in people’s dining tables by the side of an oil lamp. Whoa!!

Most of the times the doctors came in their horse carriage buggies and thus also called horse and buggy doctors. No ambulances were available in those times. The doctors in those times were very kind. They did not care if it were raining or the middle of the night, they went all the way to their patient’s home. They did not even charge a lot of fees.

Today there are still a few doctors other than the special doctors, called paramedics that go to people’s home in emergencies. In these times too the doctors work very hard. Any time a patient is sick they have to go to the hospital or a clinic to see them.

It is not easy to become a doctor. They have to train for a lot of years before fixing sick people.

Interesting Facts:

  • In ancient India, the doctors were called “Neem Hakim.”
  • China believed that “The Great Doctors” has supernatural or divine powers.
  • Egyptian doctors used ointments for wounds, and they treated chest congestions by getting the patient to inhale steam. Wow! We still use that.

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