The dean of the college was removed from his post and put on the waiting list after the Tamil Nadu government deemed his move of administering the Charak Shapath instead of the Hippocratic Oath to first-year medical students as ‘condemnable’
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The Hippocratic Oath taken by doctors has triggered another row, this time in Tamil Nadu.
The Dean of the Madurai Medical College Dr A Rathinavel was removed from the post by the Tamil Nadu government on Sunday after he made first-year-medical students take the ‘Maharshi Charak Shapath (oath)’ instead of the Hippocratic oath.
In a press note, the Tamil Nadu government said the replacement of the oath was condemnable, and removed the dean from his post and placed him on a waiting list.
What exactly went down at the Madurai Medical College? What’s the Maharshi Charak Shapath and why has it created such a furore? We take a look.
Madurai Medical College incident
On 30 April, first-year students at the prestigious Madurai Medical College were made to take the Maharshi Charak Shapath from a Sanskrit text, instead of the conventional Hippocratic Oath in English.
As per reports, the incident took place in the presence of Finance Minister PTR Palanivel Thiaga Rajan and Commercial Taxes Minister P Moorthy. The former immediately objected to the oath being taken in Sanskrit and expressed his ire at the move.
As per a report in the News Minute that PTR Palanivel Thiaga Rajan took to the mic and said that he was shocked when he heard the new oath. “I always thought that the doctors took a Hippocratic oath. In fact, I’ve been recommending politicians to take the same oath,” he was quoted as saying.
Following the incident, the Tamil Nadu health department removed the dean of the medical college from his post. Moreover, state Health Minister Ma Subramanian has ordered that a departmental inquiry against Rathinavel for allegedly violating rules.
Health Minister Ma Subramaniam told Deccan Herald: “I have attended the oath-taking ceremonies in Tiruvallur, Nilgiris and a few other colleges where students took the Hippocratic Oath. That is the practice in Tamil Nadu. Who gave anyone the permission to change this long-held tradition? How can a language which people don’t even know how to pronounce be used by students?”
Hippocratic Oath vs Charak Shapath
The Hippocratic Oath is an ethical code that medical students swear to uphold when they take up the profession. Written by Greek physician Hippocrates, it is taken by physicians across the world.
According to translations of the oath, it reads: “I will use treatment to help the sick according to my ability and judgement, but I will never use it to injure or wrong them.
“I will not give poison to anyone though asked to do so, nor will I suggest such a plan. Similarly I will not give a pessary to a woman to cause abortion. But in purity and in holiness I will guard my life and my art.
“I will not use the knife either on sufferers from stone, but I will give place to such as are craftsmen therein.
“Into whatsoever houses I enter, I will do so to help the sick, keeping myself free from all intentional wrongdoing and harm, especially from fornication with woman or man, bond or free.
“Whatsoever in the course of practice I see or hear (or even outside my practice in social intercourse) that ought never to be published abroad, I will not divulge, but consider such things to be holy secrets.”
The Hippocratic Oath is administered to medical students when they transition from pre-clinical to clinical subjects, during what is known as the white coat ceremony.
The controversy over taking the Charak Shapath over the Hippocratic Oath began in February when the National Medical Commission made the suggestion to replace the age-old oath.
The Charak Shapath is an oath in honour of Maharshi Charaka, considered one of the principal contributors to the ancient science of Ayurveda and the author of the medical treatise, ‘Charaka Samhita’.
Written in Sanskrit and translated into Hindi and English, a quote from Charak Shapath says, “Not for the self, Not for the fulfillment of any worldly material desire or gain, But solely for the good of suffering humanity, I will treat my patient and excel all.”
The proposal to replace the Hippocratic Oath with Charak Shapath was that “Charak belonged to our motherland — oath-taking to be conducted during White Coat Ceremony in local languages/vernaculars.”
The proposed change had created a row, as the Indian Medical Association (IMA) had expressed strong disapproval against this proposal. They observed that Charak Shapath would not be suitable for modern medicine practitioners.
The opposition to the Charak Shapath is not just based on language; some experts are of the opinion that the Charak Shapath is regressive in nature — one of the passages from the oath says they will treat a woman only in the presence of their male family members.
The controversy had also reached Lok Sabha where the Union government had clarified that there was no proposal to replace the Hippocratic Oath.
With inputs from agencies
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