All you need to know about the controversial Charak Oath

Chennai: The dean of a state-run medical college was relieved of his post and put on the waiting list as 'Maharshi Charak Shapath' instead of the Hippocratic oath was administered to new students and a departmental inquiry has been ordered, the government said on Sunday.

At the Madurai Government Medical College, instead of the Hippocratic Oath, the Maharshi Charak Shapath was administered on Saturday to the newly admitted students and this is 'strongly condemnable', an official release here said.

The National Medical Commission had recently recommended that the Maharshi Charak Shapath should replace the Hippocratic oath. According to new guidelines, "Modified Maharshi Charak Shapath is recommended when a candidate is introduced to medical education."

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya had said in Parliament that 'Maharshi Charak Shapath' would be optional and not forced on medical students.

What is Maharshi Charak Shapath?

* Charaka Shapath or Charaka oath, is a passage from the 'Charaka Samhita.'

* It is a guideline, like dos and don'ts, by a teacher to fresh medical students.

* The Samhita is a Sanskrit text on Ayurveda, the ancient Indian system of medicine. However, the Hippocratic Oath is an ethical code attributed to the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates and it is widely used.

Charak vs Hippocratic oath:

According to the guidelines, a robust continuous formative and internal assessment is required to ensure competencies and thereby a competent medical graduate.

‘Charak Shapath’ mandates ‘growing of beard and hair’, ‘paying for cows and Brahmins’, ‘not treating those who are in opposition to the King or whom the physician or society may despise’, and also ‘not giving any priority or any treatment at all to those who are gravely ill’.

The ancient Hippocratic oath makes a physician duty-bound to his patients, without considering political positions or gender, it restrains from performing abortions.

The modern oaths, belonging to the present, with tremendous advances in modern sciences and the establishment of liberal democratic social structures, make it very clear that every human shall be treated equally and the physicians must be committed to treating fellow humans to the best of their abilities under any circumstances.