The undergraduate board of the National Medical Commission has decided to replace the Hippocratic Oath with the Charak Shapath from the new academic session. The Hippocratic Oath is a worldwide rite of passage for medical students in modern medicine, notwithstanding intense debates in certain circles about its relevance today. Those in favour of Charak Shapath argue that India has its own rich heritage in medicine and therefore borrowing an oath from ancient Greece doesn't make sense. As Samuel Hahnemann said, the physician's highest calling is to make sick people healthy; it essentially enjoins medical practitioners to put patients first, respect their privacy and treat them to the best of their clinical judgement. It hardly makes any difference which oath is administered. It is not as if switching oaths will magically transform the pathetic state of medical education in India or alleviate the chronic shortage of medical professionals. India, heal thyself and don't wade into any needless controversies, set right the lacunae in teaching first..
Vinay Dwivedi, Benaulim
