Charak oath: Dean shunted out, put on waitlist

Madurai: The Dean of Madurai Medical College was shunted out from the post and put on ‘waitlist’ on Sunday following the controversy over first-year students being administered the Maharshi Charak Shapath in Sanskrit, instead of the conventional Hippocratic oath in English.

Health Minister Ma Subramanian has directed Director of Medical Education Dr Narayana Babu to conduct a departmental inquiry into the incident. The government also issued a circular to all medical colleges that in future only Hippocratic oath should be administered after the medics get their white coats.

The incident at an event attended by two state cabinet ministers — Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan and Commercial Taxes Minister P Moorthy — comes amid a massive row on the alleged imposition of Hindi by the Union Government and has triggered a controversy.

Dean A Rathinavel, when contacted, said the oath is a routine procedure followed during Freshers’ Day and is read out by one of the seniors. A third-year student read the oath after being told by the vice-principal, as mentioned on the website of the National Medical Commission.

“Since it’s a routine affair, no one bothered to check whether it’s a violation,” he said.

“Moreover, the oath readout was the English translation of the Sanskrit oath. It stressed the need for doctors to be kind enough to patients while rendering medical service and discharge their duty with conscience and all words are the same as mentioned in the Hippocratic oath. There’s no word referring to religion. Also, it was not wise to interfere or stop in the middle of administering the oath in the presence of ministers,” the Dean said.