NMC logo change: Doctors slam use of Hindu deity, ‘Bharat' in emblem
In a letter to NMC chairman, Indian Medical Association's Kerala branch said this logo change will “harm the scientific and secular nature of the Commission”
The National Medical Commission (NMC), which is the regulator of medical education in India, has stirred a hornet’s nest by changing its official logo from the national emblem of India to an image of the Hindu deity Dhanvantari.
Another change has been the change in its nomenclature to the “National Medical Commission – Bharat” (instead of “India”).
These sudden changes have whipped up a storm by the medical fraternity on social media, especially on X.
The Indian Medical Association (IMA)'s Kerala branch sent a letter to the NMC chairman calling the recent change “unacceptable” and said it would “harm the scientific and secular nature of the Commission”.
“This is to inform you that the recent change in the National Medical Commission's logo is unacceptable to the modern medical fraternity. The new logo gives a wrong message and will harm the scientific and secular nature of the Commission,” said the letter, written jointly by IMA Kerala president Dr Joseph Benaven and secretary Dr K Sasidharan.
The IMA national president Dr Sharad Kumar Agarwal told the New Indian Express that changing the logo was unnecessary.
“The inclusion of Dhanvantari was unnecessary and should have been avoided. They should focus on the quality of medical education. They are not a political body and should not have political aspirations or try to please their political bosses,” he said.
Dr Rohan Krishnan, national chairman of the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA), speaking to the paper said it is an “unnecessary move which is not going to help the doctors or the patients.”
“The new logo resembles the logo of the National Medicos Organisation (NMO), which is a political wing. The NMC has not been up to the mark on various fronts. Whether it is medical education, registration of the doctors, or in providing good quality medical education or even in providing job opportunities to freshly passed out MBBS students,” said Krishnan.
“They have also failed to provide better medical education infrastructure or to solve the issues of foreign medical graduates. The entire body is unapproachable, and they hardly respond to RTIs. They are interested in impressing their political masters.”
A post by a doctor who calls himself Dr Hypertension on X said: “What’s more saddening is NMC logo now will have Ayurveda founder Dhanvantari a kind of alternative medicine pic in its logo for modern medicine in India.”
While Dr Sakthi Vignesh posted on X, “I strongly condemn religious ideology and symbolism in National medical commission. This logo is not acceptable!”