The Director of Medical Education, Tamil Nadu, Narayana Babu, said on Tuesday that the Madurai Medical College had violated two instructions in the medical oath row of fresh MBBS students at the institute and that the institute was asked to stick to the routine process of admission. The row erupted after students were made to read out the ‘Maharshi Charak Shapath’, an oath recommended by the National Medical Commission, which is considered regressive and casteist. The oath is adopted from an ancient text on Ayurveda that tells physicians to not treat people hated by the king, ‘extremely abnormal’ people, and women unattended by husbands or guardians.
Speaking to reporters after conducting an inquiry into the row at the Madurai Medical College, Narayana Babu said, "The Madurai Medical College violated two instructions regarding administering oath to the freshers. It violated instructions from the state health department and the Director of Medical Education (DME) to get clarification on any new/fake circular from the department and to follow a routine process of admission issued in February."
The official said that the recommendation by the National Medical Commission to use Charaka Shapath while administering the oath to medical students was only a circular, and not an order. He also said that the Tamil Nadu health secretary had issued instructions on February 10 to all the Deans asking them to get clarification on all the new circulars from the department, stating that some fake orders in the name of NMC were also getting circulated on social media.
Narayana Babu clarified that the Parliament had also clarified that Charaka Shapath cannot replace the Hippocratic oath. He also said that the Madurai Medical College had failed to get clarification from the DME and health department on this issue.
He also said that a full inquiry would be conducted and appropriate action will be taken against other medical college Deans where students have alleged to have taken the Charaka Shapath.
It is to be noted that the students' council of the Madurai Medical College has taken up the responsibility of the first year MBBS students taking the Charak Shapath instead of the traditional Hippocratic oath.
(With IANS inputs)