Medical Commission Wants To Swap Hippocratic Oath With Charak Shapath for Docs

The Hippocratic oath has been a pledge for new medical graduates not only in India but across the world.

The National Medical Commission has proposed to replace the Hippocratic oath for medical graduates with ‘Charak Shapath’.

(Photo: The Quint)

The National Medical Commission (NMC) has proposed to replace the Hippocratic oath for medical graduates with ‘Charak Shapath.’

The Hippocratic oath written by the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates, has been a pledge for new medical graduates not only in India but across the world for practitioners of modern medicine to symbolise the responsibility of doctors.

But the NMC wants to replace it with a pledge mentioned in the Charaka Samhita, which is a Sanskrit text on Ayurveda.

This proposal was reportedly made by the NMC in a meeting with representatives of medical colleges around the country.

The Print quoted NMC member, Mahesh Verma saying that currently it’s only a proposal and that “it will have to come to the advisory council, of which I am also a member, and will have to be discussed and debated there before something like this can go ahead."

From support to protests – this news received mixed reactions on social media. While some felt the oath did not matter so long doctors undertook their duties with integrity, others felt it was unbefitting for practitioners of modern medicine to be taking an oath from an Ayurvedic text.

Some were of the opinion that replacing the Hippocratic oath with 'Charaka Shapath' was an attempt to 'saffronise' medical institution and that there are many more relevant issues that needs the NMC's attention.

While a few others welcomed what they termed as an "indigenous" oath.