Sanskrit replaces Hippocratic Oath; Tamil Nadu shunts out Madurai Medical College dean

The Hippocratic Oath is the earliest expression of medical ethics in the western world and is used widely at ceremonies to induct students into medical institutions

First-year students of the prestigious Madurai Medical College were made to take the Maharshi Charak Shapath from a Sanskrit text, instead of the conventional Hippocratic Oath in English, triggering a controversy following which the Tamil Nadu government on Sunday transferred the institute’s dean and put him on “waitlist.”

The incident at the Madurai Medical College on Saturday in the presence of Finance Minister P T R Palanivel Thiaga Rajan and Commercial Taxes Minister P Moorthy – the former immediately objected to the Sanskrit oath – comes amid a massive row on the alleged imposition of Hindi by the Union Government.

After the incident triggered a controversy with the language being a sensitive issue in Tamil Nadu, Health Minister Ma Subramanian transferred A Rathinavel, the institute’s dean, and placed him on the waitlist.

He told DH: “I have attended the oath-taking ceremonies in Tiruvallur, Nilgiris and a few other colleges where students took the Hippocratic Oath. That is the practice in Tamil Nadu. Who gave anyone the permission to change this long-held tradition? How can a language which people don’t even know how to pronounce be used by students?”.

The Tamil Nadu government will oppose and defeat the efforts to “impose” languages like Hindi and Sanskrit, Subramanian said, adding that deans of all medical colleges in the state have been asked to stick to the Hippocratic Oath. “No deviation is allowed,” he said.

At the oath-taking ceremony where the students got their white coats, they were asked to take Maharshi Charak Shapath, part of Sanskrit’s text on Ayurveda, instead of the Hippocratic Oath which is in practice in the state for over a century. Officials said this was the first time a medical institute, that too as old as the Madurai Medical College, made a departure from the long-held tradition of administering the Hippocratic Oath.

The opposition to Maharshi Charak Shapath was not just because of the language in which it was written but also due to its regressive content—one of the Sanskrit oaths taken by students says they will treat a woman only in the presence of their male family members.

While the dean has blamed the students’ cabinet secretary who is believed to have downloaded Maharshi Charak Shapath from the website of the National Medical Commission which had recommended its usage during the oath-taking ceremonies, the Directorate of Medical Education (DME) has ordered an inquiry into the incident.

“There was no order from NMC. Even if there was one, the Dean cannot decide on his own. Moreover, he cannot blame the students. Language is a sensitive issue here,” a senior official said.

Former Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said the Hippocratic Oath teaches medicos to hand out hope to their patients and stresses possessing qualities like affection, honesty, and being merciful.

“However, the Indian Ayurveda system says treatment should not be given to people hated by the Emperor or those who hate the Emperor. It also says treatment should not be given to widows. Doctors should not take oath from a text-based on archaic thoughts,” he added.

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