The Tamil Nadu government on Sunday removed the dean of Madurai Medical College, a day after its new students were administered the Maharshi Charak Shapath, in Sanskrit, instead of the usual Hippocratic Oath in English.
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.
A release from the Medical Education Department on Sunday said that fresh students of Madurai medical college were administered ‘Maharshi Charak Shapath’ instead of the traditional Hippocratic oath.
The authorities said that medical students had taken the English translation of the Sanskrit oath during their induction ceremony on Saturday. However, the Dean claimed that the students took the oath on their own.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Narayanan Thirupathy claimed that the decision of removing the Dean is a political move.
"Hippocratic oath is a westernised way of taking the pledge. NMC recommended the old Indian way of medicine (Maharshi Charak Shapath). Unnecessary politics should be avoided." he told news agency ANI.
"The Centre said it's optional. Why should you suspend Dean? DMK has always loved the westernised model," he added.
The National Medical Commission (NMC), which has replaced the Medical Council of India as the regulator for medical education and practices in the country, recently suggested that medical colleges give their students the ‘Charak Shapath’ instead of the Hippocratic Oath.
The move had triggered a row, seen as part of the BJP-led government’s Hindutva agenda.
