IMA president Dr Sharad Agarwal calls for 'religion-neutral' NMC logo

By Shalini Bhardwaj
New Delhi [India], December 12 (ANI): Amid a controversy over the National Medical Commission logo depicting a Hindu deity, Indian Medical Association (IMA) president Dr Sharad Agarwal said that doctors have no religion and that they do not discriminate based on religion.
The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has been raising objections since the NMC logo depicted 'Dhanwantari', the physician of the gods in Hindu mythology.
Speaking to ANI, Dr Sharad Agarwal President of IMA said, "We are proud of our God and we are a religious person. But as a profession, we have no religion. We are above that. I said that the medical profession, the modern medicine profession as per our oath also, we don't discriminate on the basis of religion."
He further said that NMC should have discussed with IMA before implementing such a decision.
"NMC before doing any such thing. An open discussion should be done. The commission has its role in medical education in India. They should be away from all these things," he said.
This matter also came up during the Zero Hour in Rajya Sabha on Monday when Trinamool Congress MP Dr Shantanu Sen called for the old NMC logo to be restored and said that the new logo is against the Constitution.
Defending the decision, Union Health Minister Mansukh L. Mandaviya dismissed the concerns over the new logo of the National Medical Commission and said," Dhanwantari is a symbol of Indian medical science. We can take inspiration from our heritage and move forward. I think we should feel proud instead of questioning."
Recently, In a letter to the Union Health Minister, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) demanded to take corrective steps to adopt the previous NMC logo.
"The IMA calls upon the NMC to take corrective steps to adopt a logo which does not contradict the oath and duty of Doctors, towards all our citizens with complete neutrality especially in shunning any attempt to connect and/or identify the institution such as NMC with any particular religion. NMC as of today has done precious little to better medical education in the country," the letter had read. (ANI)