New Delhi:

Under attack, National Medical Commission (NMC) officials on Friday said the commission’s logo depicting Hindu deity Dhanwantari has been in use for more than a year and that only “India has been replaced with Bharat a month and a half ago”.

Dr Yogender Malik, member of the Ethics and Medical Registration Board and head of the media Division at the NMC, said the erstwhile Medical Council of India (MCI) had the symbol of a greek goddess in its logo.

About a year-and-a-half ago, the NMC decided on a logo with Dhanwantari as a representative of the god of medicine in our country following wider consultation, Malik said.

“The image of Dhanwantari was in black and white earlier. At a recent meeting of the NMC, the colour image replacement was adopted. The image is now clearer.

“We never had the India emblem as our logo. We did not have a logo earlier. It was only around a year ago that the NMC, after taking suggestions, came up with the logo. The Dhanwantari logo was black and white for more than a year and we realised that we need to colour it. So that is the only change that has happened. I do not understand the criticism,” he said.

Malik further said the only change that has taken place is that the word “India” has been replaced with “Bharat”.

The commission on Thursday drew ire from the Indian Medical Association’s (IMA) Kerala chapter, which said the recent change in the NMC logo was not acceptable.

Dr Sulphi Noohu, IMA Kerala president, said a secular message and way of thinking would have been more appropriate and acceptable in the NMC’s logo.

In a Facebook post, the doctor, known for his secular views, said the national leadership of the IMA would raise a strong protest against the logo change.

In his Facebook post, Noohu has included images of the current NMC logo and an earlier one that carries the national emblem (an adaptation from the Sarnath Lion Capital of Ashoka). 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)