Charak Shapath row in TN: Madurai MBBS students claim they followed NMC guidelines

After the Tamil Nadu government relieved Madurai GMC's Dean Dr A Ratnavel over MBBS students of the college taking ‘Maharshi Charak Shapath’, students have claimed that they only followed NMC's guidelines.

Madurai's MBBS students, who took an oath of the modified ‘Maharshi Charak Shapath’ instead of the Hippocratic oath, said they were merely following the National Medical Commission (NMC) guidelines on medical oath.

They have claimed that the circular saying that only the Hippocratic oath must be taken was issued only on Sunday, a day after the controversy erupted, as reported by India Today.

“We’ve been following the NMC guidelines that stated that Charak Shapath can be recommended to newly inducted students, but that is not mandatory. There was no communication to us that only the Hippocratic oath should be taken and not Charak Shapath until yesterday," said a student.

Govt to conduct departmental inquiry against the Dean

The Dean of Madurai Medical College was removed on Sunday (May 1) after a batch of new students were administered an oath in Sanskrit instead of the traditional Hippocratic Oath in English.

State Health Minister Ma Subramanian has said that the Tamil Nadu government would conduct a departmental inquiry against the dean to find the reason for administering ‘Maharshi Charak Shapath’ without consent from the government. 

The event was reportedly attended by two state ministers — Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan and Commercial Taxes Minister P Moorthy.

Tamil Nadu government is also demanding to remove NEET exam from the state and has already passed a bill for the same in the state Assembly. The government is trying to send the bill to the Centre but the state Governor has still not passed it to the President.

Read more:

• Calcutta Medical College principal says administering Charak Shapath was mistake
• Fresh MBBS batch of Calcutta Medical College read out Charak Shapath