New Delhi, April 1 : The National Medical Commission has replaced the Hippocratic oath with Charak Shapath (Oath of Charak) in the latest curriculum drafted for MBBS undergraduate course, a circular issued from the nodal medical education agency showed. The circular by NMC mentioned that “A modified Maharishi Charak Shapath is recommended when a candidate is introduced to medical education.” The development has come days after denials by the Centre about replacing the Hippocratic oath with the Charak Shapath.
Recently, (Minister of State) for Union Health Ministry Dr Bharati Pawar stated in the upper house of the parliament that there was no proposal to replace the Hippocratic oath with the Charak shapath. “As informed by the National Medical Commission (NMC), there is no proposal of replacement of Hippocratic oath with Charak Shapath,” her response in the Parliament read. The Minister was answering a question from MP Kumar Ketkar on February 25. The Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya had also assured Indian Medical Association(IMA) that the Charak Shapath will not be forced on medical students and will be optional. The modified Charak Shapath will be taken by the medical students in the first year of the undergraduate programme.
The Hippocratic Oath has been traditionally taken by the doctors during the convocation programme, also known as the white coat ceremony. The sources said that the Charak Shapath will be made available in languages other than English and the institutes will be independent to allow their students to take the Shapath even in regional languages. Last month, the NMC had proposed replacing the Greek-origin Hippocratic Oath with the indigenous Charak Shapath at the graduation ceremony of doctors “No Hippocratic Oath. During the white coat ceremony (with parents) the oath will be ‘Maharishi Charak Shapath’ present on the NMC website,” according to the minutes of NMC’s discussions with all medical colleges in India.
with uni inputs
