An alleged change in the logo of the National Medical Commission of India (NMC) has garnered criticism from netizens on social media. The new logo, which is now being used on the official website of NMC India, depicts the God Dhanwantari, who is considered to be the physician of all the Gods and Goddesses, in Hindu mythology.
The deity is placed in the middle of a circle. It seems proportionately smaller compared to the other three emblems signifying humans holding hands in the colours of saffron, white, and green, depicting the colours of the flag.
The newly revamped logo comes as an unpleasant change, as an X (formerly Twitter) user (@TheLiverDoc), Dr Cyriac Abby Philips, writes, "The National Medical Commission of India, the apex "scientific" body that regulates medical education and medical professionals has silently dropped the Ashoka State Emblem from its logo, replacing it with an image of the Hindu God Dhanvantri, the embodiment of pseudoscientific Ayurveda, thus signaling the shameless entry of India into the inner circle of pseudoscience Hell."
The dropping of the National Emblem of India, the Ashoka Emblem, the four Asiatic lions, and the introduction of the word Bharat has stirred speculations about the initiation of a new name for the country.
Most netizens believe that the new logo is an outright attack on what medicine stands for, as now, it has been given a religious colour.
Associations express ire
A letter addressed to the Chairman of the National Medical Commission by the Indian Medical Association, Kerala State, mentions that the new logo relays a wrong message to the public and "will harm the scientific and secular nature of the commission." They also term the move as being "unacceptable".
Dhanwantari a cultural symbol?
A user (@ThisAndThatDude) says that such a symbol predates the introduction of terms such as 'secularism'.
Another user named (@shekru13) says that modern medicine practitioners across the globe use "caduceus" as an emblem or a symbol which essentially is a part of the Greco-Roman/Egyptian Mythology and now, it is used globally.
Fact Check?
Dr Aviral Mathur, President of the Federation of Resident Doctors' Association (FORDA), shares via his tweet that the logo of Dhanwantari was present in the logo of NMC previously as well, but the present image is a coloured one in contrast to the previous image which was comparatively smaller and slightly bigger.
It is to be noted that there was no formal announcement by the NMC before introducing the change. The Twitter handle of the NMC is still operating with the old logo as its display picture and the change has only been initiated on the website.
