MADURAI: A day after the Government Madurai Medical College (GMMC) Dean Dr A Rathinavel was removed from his post over MBBS freshers taking the Maharshi Charak Shapath oath instead of the conventional Hippocratic oath, members of the GMMC student council on Monday said they had chosen the oath and the college administration was in no way responsible for their decision. This comes even as the Tamil Nadu Government Doctors Association (TNGDA) urged the government to reinstate the dean.
Addressing reporters, student council president VM Jothish said the students, without consulting the college administration, chose the Charak Shapath to be administered to new students based on a recent circular from the National Medical Commission (NMC). “Moreover, the freshers took the English translation of the Charak Shapath, and not the Sanskrit version. The Union or State governments had neither insisted on nor objected to the administration of the Charak oath, until the State government issued a new circular on Sunday,” he added. Reportedly, other government medical colleges in TN had also administered the oath. The student council members later met the district collector and briefed him on the incident.
Meanwhile, members of the TNGDA, pointing out they’d conveyed their stance against the use of the Charak Shapath to the NMC, said Dr Rathinavel was not responsible for the GMMC incident and sought his reinstatement.
‘Insisted on by NMC’
“UG Medical Education Board President Dr Aruna V Vanikar had instructed medical colleges to use Charak oath... and a recent NMC circular also insisted on it. Accordingly, students in several medical colleges took the oath this year,” a TNGDA statement said.