NEW DELHI: Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya said Dhanwantari is a symbol of Indian medical science and that it was already a part of the (Commission’s) logo and just some colour has been added and nothing more.
Defending the change in the National Medical Commission’s logo to feature Dhanwantari — the physicians of the Gods in Hindu mythology — instead of a secular emblem, Mandaviya said it was part of India’s heritage and everyone must feel proud of it.
The matter was raised by TMC’s Santanu Sen through a Zero Hour mention in the Rajya Sabha on Monday. He demanded the restoration of the National Medical Commission’s previous logo.
“(It was) already a part of the (Commission’s) logo and just some colour has been added and nothing more. This is India’s heritage. I feel we should feel proud (about it),” said the BJP leader.
Stating that the logo is designed by taking inspiration from the country’s heritage, Mandaviya said: “This is a symbol of medical science … someone who had done so much research in medical science. We have used the photo with no other intention.”
The Medical Council of India (MCI) logo was adopted in 1934 after the Indian Medical Council Act, 1933, was enacted. The law defined medicine as “modern scientific medicine and includes surgery and obstetrics” and the logo used was based on the international symbol for medicine — the staff of Aesclepius, the Greek god of medicine and healing.
The logo also featured a snake wound around the staff.
While there has been no official announcement of a change in the Commission’s logo, a black and white logo with the depiction of Dhanwantari at the centre reportedly appeared in December 2022. The colourised version appeared a couple of months later.
Sen said the Indian Medical Council Act of 1956 was repealed in 2020 despite objections from different corners of society and the medical fraternity. On the change in logo, Sen said: “…there was no need and there was no permissible condition, so far as the National Medical Commission is concerned, that this logo can be changed. But, unfortunately, we have seen in the recent past, I don’t know (if it is) because of government instruction or by the National Medical Commission itself, they have changed the logo and they have brought a photograph of Dhanwantari in the logo.
