Madurai college dean suspended for altering MBBS students’ oath

The dean of Tamil Nadu-government run Madurai Medical College was removed from his post and put on a waitlist on Sunday after first-year MBBS students of the college were administered ‘Maharshi Charak Shapath’ in Sanskrit instead of the conventional Hippocratic Oath in English.

“This is a highly reprehensible act (administering Charak oath),” said a statement from the state’s health minister Ma Subramanian, who ordered the action against the dean, Dr A Rathinavel.

“The Hippocratic Oath has been followed from time immemorial by all government medical colleges and hospitals for new entrants in Tamil Nadu and for students pursuing medical training after completing their medical education,” the order read.

“As Charak oath was given instead of the Hippocratic Oath, Dr A Rathinavel, dean, Madurai Medical College, has been relieved of his post and placed on a waiting list,” the statement said.

The state government has also initiated a departmental enquiry under director of medical education, Narayana Babu, to look into the incident. All deans of the state’s medical colleges have also been instructed to not deviate from protocol and stick to the Hippocratic Oath, the statement added.

State ministers PTR Palanivel Thiaga Rajan (finance) and P Moorthy (commercial taxes) were on the dais during the college’s induction ceremony held on Saturday for students to don their white aprons for the first time. Both ministers had expressed shock over the change in protocol.

Former Union health minister and leader of the Pattali Makkal Katchi (an NDA ally) Anbumani Ramadoss expressed shock over the incident particularly because it happened in front of the ministers. He tweeted that the Hippocratic Oath teaches medical practitioners to give hope to their patients and it stresses on possessing qualities like affection, honesty, and being merciful.

“However, the Indian Ayurveda system says treatment should not be given to people hated by the Emperor or those who hate the Emperor. It also says treatment should not be given to widows. Doctors should not take oath from a text based on archaic thoughts,” he said.

News reports on April 1 said the National Medical Commission (NMC) in its guidelines recommended for new MBBS students to take the Maharshi Charak Shapath instead of the Hippocratic Oath. While the globally used, centuries-old Hippocratic Oath is an ethical code attributed to the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates, the Charak oath is part of the Charak Samhita, which is a Sanskrit text on Ayurveda. The latter has been criticised by doctors for imbibing regressive notions. When the report of the NMC replacing the oath first came to light earlier this February, the Kerala Congress and several doctors had claimed that medical education was being saffronised. However, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor had called for both oaths to co-exist.

“Many doctors are expressing concern. I am all in favour of introducing Indian elements into Indian education, but not at the expense of universal values and standards. Why can’t the Charaka Shapath supplement, rather than supplant, the Hippocratic Oath that doctors worldwide take?” Tharoor had tweeted.

The controversy has come at a time when Tamil Nadu has opposed and the Dravida Kazhagam (ideological body of the Dravidian parties) went on a protest on Saturday against the alleged imposition of Hindi by the Union government.