VARANASI: First-year MBBS students at ESIC Medical College and Hospital in Pandeypur marked the beginning of their medical training with a white-coat ceremony on Saturday, October 24, taking a pledge centred on sensitivity towards patients and the values of the profession.
The newly admitted students were given white coats and took the Charak oath during the programme. Dedication to medical service, ethical conduct and a sense of duty formed the central message of the occasion.
The ceremony took place in Lecture Theatre 1 on the fifth floor of the hospital’s super-speciality block. ESIC medical commissioner Dr Sapna Mittal attended as chief guest, bringing the organisation’s medical leadership into the welcome for the new undergraduate students.
Institutional welcome for the new batch
Deputy medical commissioner Dr Teresa E. Bilung and ESIC Varanasi joint director Sanjay Kumar attended as special guests. College dean Professor Dr Sanjay Keshkar and medical superintendent Professor Dr Deenanath Pujari presided over the programme.
Other faculty members and officials were also present. The gathering linked the students’ entry into the college with the responsibilities they will encounter as their course moves from introductory learning towards clinical training.
A white coat is a visible symbol of that transition, but the emphasis of Saturday’s programme was on the conduct expected behind it. Students pledged sensitivity to patients as well as adherence to professional values, placing the relationship with the person receiving care alongside academic study.
The ceremony was a welcome for entrants to the MBBS course, not the completion of their medical qualification. Their training and assessments remain the work ahead rather than an outcome conferred by the ceremonial presentation of a coat.
Professionalism begins during training
Educational guidance in the Foundation Course document hosted by the National Medical Commission identifies professional competence, effective communication and ethics as foundations of professionalism. The 2019 document describes an introductory course intended to help new medical students adjust to their professional environment.
That broader educational context helps explain why an entry-stage ceremony speaks about patients before students have completed their clinical training. Learning to communicate and developing a sense of responsibility are part of professional preparation, alongside the scientific knowledge required by the course.
Saturday’s ESIC programme brought those expectations into a formal welcome involving students, faculty and institutional officials. Its stated focus remained service, ethical responsibility and attentiveness to patients, rather than an announcement of a new hospital treatment or a change in public services.
For the incoming batch in Pandeypur, the occasion marked a starting point: the coat and pledge introduced a professional identity whose practical meaning will have to be developed through study, supervised learning and respectful engagement with the people they will eventually care for.
