No proposal to replace Hippocratic oath with Charak Shapath: Govt

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, March 29

The 2,500-year-old Hippocratic oath taken by doctors to protect patients to the best of their ability will stay for now.

The government on Tuesday set the record straight on recent speculation of a potential replacement of the Hippocratic oath with Maharishi Charak Shapath, which is part of the Charak Samhita.

While Hippocratic oath is the pledge MBBS pass-outs take after completing their internship and comes from Greek physician Hippocrates, Charak Shapath is attributed to Charaka, a key force behind the ancient Indian medicine system ayurveda.

“As informed by the National Medical Commission (NMC), there is no proposal of replacement of Hippocratic oath with Charak Shapath,” Minister of Health Bharati Pawar said in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

She was answering a question from MP Kumar Ketkar who wanted to know if the NMC proposed replacing the Hippocratic oath with Charak Shapath and whether the representatives of the Indian Medical Association were consulted on this.

The debate started recently after IMA secretary Jayesh Lele said the NMC was planning a replacement.

The remark was attributed to the February 7 minutes of a meeting of the NMC Undergraduate Board which were doing the rounds on social media. The minutes referred to discussions on the introduction of Charak Shapath and a plan to replace the Hippocratic oath for the outgoing MBBS batches.

Medical college managements, however, privately did not confirm having received any such order of replacement of the oath.

The NMC never confirmed the veracity of the minutes of its meeting on social media and today said the Hippocratic oath would stay.

The clarification will end the debate in some sections about the alleged “saffronisation of medical education”.