Charak Shapath row: Madurai MBBS students claim they followed NMC guidelines on medical oath
India Today
Madurai medical students, who took an oath of the modified ‘Maharshi Charak Shapath’ instead of the Hippocratic oath, said the circular by the Directorate of Medical Education came a day later. They said they were merely following the NMC guidelines on medical oath.
Jyothish Kumaravel, president of Madurai Medical College Students Council, claimed that they followed the National Medical Commission (NMC) guidelines on medical oath and the circular stating only Hippocratic oath must be taken was issued only on Sunday, a day after the controversy erupted.
On Saturday, April 30, the induction ceremony of first year students of this Madurai college took a controversial turn when they ended up taking an oath of the modified ‘Maharshi Charak Shapath’ instead of the Hippocratic oath.
But the students now claim that a circular mentioning the medical oath was issued only on Sunday by the Directorate of Medical Education.
READ | First year MBBS students in TN 'mistakenly' take Charak Shapath, dean removed
According to Jyothish Kumaravel, students only read the English translation of Charak Shapath. He claimed that students were following the NMC’s curriculum which was introduced in 2019 that recommended Charak Shapath.
“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 Hippocratic oath should be taken and not Charak Shapath until yesterday," he said.
Meanwhile, a video has surfaced of Ramnad Medical College students taking Charak Shapath on March 11, 2022. State finance minister PTR Thiagarajan was also in attendance. This has raised questions if Madurai Medical College Dean Dr Rathinavel was made a scapegoat.
