National Medical Commission recommends replacing Hippocratic Oath with 'Maharshi Charak Shapath'

NEW DELHI: Medical education regulator National Medical Commission (NMC) has recommended that 'Maharshi Charak Shapath' should replace the Hippocratic Oath in a new curriculum for MBBS courses and students pursuing them in the country.

According to new guidelines, "Modified 'Maharshi Charak Shapath' is recommended when a candidate is introduced to medical education." The guidelines also recommend a 10-day yoga "foundation course", beginning June 12 every year and culminating on the International Yoga Day on June 21.

"Yoga training is recommended to be initiated during the foundation course,(one hour, preferably in the morning in orientation week). Yoga practices shall be for maximum one hour every day during the period of 10 days beginning from 12th June every year to be culminated on International Yoga Day, i.e. June 21, to be celebrated in all medical schools across the country," according to the revised guidelines.

According to the guidelines, a robust continuous formative and internal assessment is required to ensure competencies and thereby a competent medical graduate. "If required, we can have two internal assessments and the third internal assessment can be calculated from various unitary and continuous tests taken throughout the year," it said.

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

Charaka Shapath or Charaka oath, a passage of text in Charaka Samhita which is the Sanskrit text on Ayurveda (Indian traditional medicine), is a set of instructions by a teacher to prospective students of the science of medicine.

The Hippocratic Oath, ethical code attributed to the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates, is a widely adopted guideline to conduct medical profession throughout the ages and still used in the graduation ceremonies of many medical schools.