The National Medical Commission’s (NMC) new logo has sparked a controversy for featuring Dhanvantari, the physicians of the Gods in Hindu mythology, instead of a secular emblem. This has led to protests from many individual doctors, medical students and the largest doctors’ body, the Indian Medical Association. A look at the history of the regulatory body’s logo might help understand many of the claims and counter claims that have been made about the logo.

Did the new NMC logo replace the Lion capital of Ashoka, the emblem of India?

No.The four lions andAshok chakra which is an emblem of the Indian government is used by government bodies. Hence, some NMC documents and the NMC twitter handle home page still features this emblem. But it is not the logo of the NMC. The NMC did not have a logo till December 2022, though the Medical Council of India (MCI) which it replaced did have one.

What was the logo of MCI, the predecessor of the NMC and when was it adopted?

The MCI logo was adopted in 1934 after the Indian Medical Council Act 1933 was enacted.
A senior member of erstwhile MCI said that the logo was meant to represent Western medical science which was later referred to as modern scientific medicine. In 1916, a law was enacted in India to regulate the granting of qualifications in “Western medical science”. In that law Western medical science was defined as “western methods of Allopathic Medicine Obstetrics and Surgery but does not include the Homeopathic or Ayurvedic or Unani system of medicine”. The word Western was dropped when the Indian Medical Council Act of 1933 was enacted and medicine was defined as “modern scientific medicine and includes surgery and obstetrics, but does not include veterinary medicine and surgery”. “There is nothing Indian about modern scientific medicine. It did not originate in India and so the logo to represent it was based on the symbol of medicine internationally, which is the staff of the Greek god of medicine and healing, Aesclepius, which has a snake wound around it,” explained the former MCI member. In the MCI logo you find Aesclepius, the staff with the snake wound around it and a third element which looks like an Indian lamp. Even the World Health Organisation (WHO) has the staff of Aesclepius with the snake wound around it against the backdrop of a globe as its logo.

When was the logo of the NMC changed?

There appears to be no official announcement on the NMC website of a logo being adopted. The first time the logo appears officially is on December 28, 2022 on black and white scanned copies of two official document. In that logo the picture of Dhanvantari at the centre is so faint that it is difficult to make out what it depicts. It again appears on a black and white scanned document dated January 25, 2023 which was uploaded on January 27.

Documents such as circulars, public notices and letters released between December 28 and January 25 and those uploaded since January 25 did not have the logo. The first time a coloured version of the logo appears is on February 27, 2023. In the coloured version the picture of Dhanvantari is in black and white and very faint. In the logo it says National Medical Commission of India.

The logo was used intermittently since then but the picture of Dhanvantari at the centre was so faint that it caught no one’s attention. The first time a colourised picture of Dhanvantari in the logo appeared in the public domain was on November 8 on a press release regarding medical education counselling. And National Medical Commission of India was changed to National Commission of Bharat in the logo. The Hindi name of NMC in the logo remains Rashtriya Ayur Vigyan Aayog, Bharat in the November 8 document (https://www.nmc.org.in/MCIRest/open/getDocument?path=/Documents/Public/Portal/LatestNews/Press%20release%2008.11.2023.pdf).

What has NMC said about the logo change?

A member of NMC’s Ethics and Medical Registration Board and head of NMC’s media division Dr Yogender Malik explained that the Indian emblem of the four lions and Ashoka chakra was never in the NMC logo as NMC never had any logo. He was quoted saying that the depiction of the image of the Hindu deity Dhanvantari was in black and white and since it was not clear when taking print outs it was decided to colourise it. He claimed that the NMC came up with the new logo about a year back “after taking suggestions”. One year after the creation of the NMC, on September 21, 2021 there is a notice on NMC website titled Public notice for NMC logo creation. It stated that the NMC had decided to have its own logo and a tagline defining its moto and vision. It invited ideas and suggestions from the general public/ students/ professionals for designing a logo and tagline for the NMC with October 15, 2021 as the last date for entries and suggestions. It had also announced a prize of Rs 10,000 and Rs 5000 for logo and tagline respectively.

Why have many doctors and doctors’ associations objected to the new logo?

Several doctors pointed out that Dhanvantari is the God of Ayurveda and was in no way associated with modern medicine. “Any kind of depiction with regard to the profession of medicine either individually or any statutory or non-statutory authority or any association of doctors etc. has to be religion neutral. The NMC has adopted a new logo with religious depiction contained therein. The new logo of the NMC is in contradiction with our fundamental values as doctors. It is not in conformity with the oath and duty of doctors, which is not towards any particular religion. Such a logo is also inconsistent with the dignity and decorum of an institution such as the NMC,” said a statement issued by the IMA. The IMA called 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. It urged the NMC to adopt a religion-neutral logo.