‘No agenda in it’: NMC official on logo change

NEW DELHI: Facing criticism from the medical fraternity for modifying its logo with a coloured image of the Hindu god Dhanvantari and the word ‘Bharat’ written above it, the National Medical Commission (NMC) on Friday said that it exercised its power and has been using the same logo for nearly one-and-a-half years.

Dr Yogender Malik, member of Ethics and Medical Registration Board (EMRB) and head of publication division at NMC said that NMC members decided to use a colored image of Dhanvantari and ‘Bharat’ word in the NMC logo in the eleventh meeting.

“We did not create the logo suddenly. We deliberated on the logo for nine months in NMC meetings. NMC officials did a comprehensive exercise and finalised this logo in which it was decided that God Dhanvantari will be in the middle of the logo. We started using that logo nearly 1.5 years ago but God Dhanvantari was not visible clearly. The printouts of NMC documents used to show some black and white lines in the middle of the logo,” Malik told Careers360.

“In the 11th meeting of NMC in October 2023, we deliberated and proposed to use a colored image of God Dhanvantari. Due to some error, there was ‘Bhartiya’ word in the logo and we also corrected it to ‘Bharat’ now,” he added.

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. It replaced the Medical Council of India.

NMC faces criticism

NMC is facing criticism from the medical fraternity after the new updated logo became visible on its official website. The new logo has a coloured image of Dhanvantari, an avatar of Lord Vishnu, who is regarded as the physician of devas (gods) in Hinduism. The original logo had the State Emblem of India.

Indian Medical Association (IMA), Kerala State Branch in a statement 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 state IMA asked the NMC to take immediate action.

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TMC Rajya Sabha MP Dr Santanu Sen in a letter to NMC chairman Dr BN Gangadhar asked him to provide details behind deliberations for the new logo.

“[The] symbol of one particular religion in the logo of NMC having national and international importance goes against the basic essence of our constitution,” Sen said while urging the NMC chairman to reconsider the decision of changing the logo.

NMC updated logo (Left) and old logo (Right)

‘Indianness is a good thing’

On allegations of saffronisation of NMC, Malik said: “There is no agenda in it. I don’t understand what they call saffronisation. In my personal capacity, I consider Indianness as a good thing. There is nothing in this which you called saffronisation of education because it is just a logo and it does not have anything to do with curriculum and syllabus made by committees consisting of senior professors and doctors. We are focused on quality medical research, education and working towards providing the best doctors to the nation.”

He added: “I think we should respect NMC as it came up with the logo by exercising its powers. We should also be proud of being Bhartiya.”