The ministry of health wants AIIMS and other medical teaching institutes to shun the black gown and cap and design Indian wear
The ministry of health and family welfare has written to all All India Institutes of Medical Sciences, central government teaching hospitals and Institutes of National Importance to design their own convocation wear as the black cap gown combination normally used for such ceremonies is a “colonial” vestige.
The communication comes just one day after it took an intervention by the Supreme Court to get medical students back to work in the wake of the gruesome rape and murder of a doctor in Kolkata’s R G Kar Hospital on August 9. Medical students in that city are still on the warpath demanding justice.
“…it is observed that currently as a matter of practice black robe and cap is being used during convocation by various Institutes of the Ministry. This attire originated in the middle Ages in Europe and was introduced by the British in all their colonies. The above tradition is a colonial legacy which needs to be changed. Accordingly it has been decided by the ministry that the various institutes of the ministry including AIIMS/INIs engaged in imparting medical education will design appropriate India dress code for the Convocation Ceremony of their Institute’ based on local traditions of the State in which the Institute is located. The proposal to this effect should be submitted to the Ministry through their respective Divisions of Ministry for consideration and approval of Secretary (Health),” reads the communication signed by under secretary Thawngzachin Chinsum Naulak.
The ministry has referenced the Panch Pran (five oaths) enunciated by prime minister Narendra Modi for this order, the timing of which has come as a bit of an oddity. Since August 10 large parts of the country has seen agitations and strikes by doctors and medical students demanding security in hospitals and a central law that protects doctors against assaults and attacks in the workplace. The apex court during its hearing on Thursday asked for the Central Industrial Security Force to be deployed in R G Kar Hospital.
