The history of Türkiye’s Medicine Day dates back to 1827 when the Ottoman Sultan Mahmut II opened a health center in the Şehzadebaşı complex with the advice of the head physician of the empire. The center’s establishment day, March 14, is Medicine Day in Türkiye.
However, the first celebration was held on March 14, 1919, in Istanbul. A then-medical student, Hikmet Boran, marched with his friends to protest the occupation of Istanbul by foreign forces, starting the country’s first Medicine Day celebrations.
