NMC changes logo from national emblem to Hindu god, uses term ‘Bharat’; faces flak

NEW DELHI: The National Medical Commission (NMC) faces criticism after it changed its logo from the national emblem of India to a Hindu god. The new logo has no mention of ‘India’ but has used the term ‘Bharat’. Notably, there was no official announcement on logo change.

Strongly condemning the decision, the Indian Medical Association (IMA), Kerala State Branch, said: “This is to bring to your notice that the recent change in the National Medical Commission Logo is not acceptable to the modern medical fraternity. The new logo gives a wrong message and will harm the scientific and secular nature of the Commission.” The IMA asked the NMC to take immediate action.

Academics, experts have strongly criticised the decision of the NMC. A X user said: “So sad, the Ashoka emblem is such a powerful logo, idk why they have to keep a goddess in the emblem of a national commission which includes people of different faiths.”

The NMC was constituted by an act of Parliament known as “National Medical Commission Act, 2019” which came into force on September 25, 2020, to improve access to quality and affordable medical education.

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A physician with X user name, @theliverdr, expressed his disappointment and said “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.”

An Oncology resident, @DoctorHussain96, on X tweeted: "NMC (National Medical Commission of India) has changed its logo replacing its previous Ashoka emblem to Dhanvantari, known as Physician of Devas, An avatar of Vishnu, God of Ayurveda. Congrats to NMC for taking our modern medicine to 1000 years backwards and taking us back to old dark ages of religious pseudoscience."