Chennai: In a break from tradition, the students of a medical college in Tamil Nadu were last week administered the Maharishi Charak Shapath, instead of the conventional Hippocratic Oath, triggering a new controversy in the state amid the ongoing language row.
With the visuals of students taking the Charak Shapath being widely shared, the Tamil Nadu government Sunday ordered the removal of the dean of the institute, the Madurai Medical College, media reports said.
The Charak oath from ‘Charaka Samhita’, which details the ancient Ayurveda-based medical practices, was originally in Sanskrit. The Hippocratic Oath, meanwhile, is in English and has its origins in Greek medical texts. Physicians across the world have historically taken the vow in English.
According to reports, the students at the Madurai college were administered a modified version of the Charak Shapath written in Roman script.
Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan and Commercial Taxes Minister P Moorthy were present at the Madurai Medical College event Saturday.
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian said a detailed probe has been ordered, and action would be taken.
“We have also written to all medical institutions in the state to follow the traditional Hippocratic Oath. This government will not allow a departure from this convention,” he was quoted as saying.
In a statement, the government said A Rathinavel, now removed from the post of dean, was being placed on a waiting list for future posting.
NMC Had Suggested ‘Optional’ Charak Shapath
NDA ally PMK was among those who objected to the alleged violation of this long-standing practice. Its leader Anbumani Ramadoss, a former Union health minister, said he was surprised to see such a thing happening in the presence of state ministers. “It should have been prevented then and there…,” news reports quoted him as saying.
The incident comes around a month after the National Medical Commission (NMC) suggested that medical colleges give their students the Charak Shapath, instead of the Hippocratic Oath.
The NMC replaced the erstwhile Medical Council of India in 2020 as the regulator for medical education and practices in the country, and its new guidelines had triggered a row after they were made public recently.
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya had then said the Charak Shapath would be optional, but a modified version of it was made available to colleges so they could use it for new batches.
Quoting Rathinavel, a report in The Indian Express said it was a student body official who had taken the decision to take the Charak Shapath, instead of the Hippocratic Oath, and that the students had got it from the NMC website where the Sanskrit vow is available in Roman script.