A day after A. Rathinavel, Dean of the Government Madurai Medical College, was placed on the “wait list” after students took the Maharshi Charak Shapath instead of the conventional Hippocratic Oath on April 30, a video surfaced on Monday showing the same oath being administered to students of the Ramanathapuram Government Medical College, during the White Coat Ceremony held as early as March 11.
While Ramanathapuram GMC Dean Alli was not reachable, sources confirmed that the first batch of the newly-opened college had indeed taken the Charak Shapath in the presence of the Dean and faculty members. Admitting to the incident, an official source said the college administration had just followed the National Medical Commission guidelines on the oath.
“Since, there was no other directive from the State Government that prohibited the Charak Shapath from replacing the conventional Hippocratic Oath, the administration went ahead with its proposal,” the official said. However, it was not clear as to who had taken the final call on what oath to administer and whether any clarification was sought from the Directorate of Medical Education.
Meanwhile, State Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, who had flagged the Charak Shapath shortly after it was administered at the Madurai college, on Monday tweeted, “Apparently this has been going on in other colleges over the past few months, but no one else saw fit to question the changeover, it seems,” and added, “There’s a likely side effect: I’ll probably get invited to fewer functions in the future, in case I might notice some other issue.”
Published - May 02, 2022 08:59 pm IST
