BEFORE any student formally starts attending classes in a medical college, he has to undertake an oath in a ceremony on the first day. This oath be the original `Hippocratic oath`.

One of the key sentences says `I will utterly reject harm and mischief`, which is the same as saying `I will do no harm`.

Unfortunately, this clause of the oath is broken so of ten that, not just by graduates in their practice but by students when they are still earning their title, especially the tradition of `ragging` which is done by seniors on juniors who freshly join the college.

By the students definition, it is an initiation where they are `welcoming and preparing` the new students for the future. By all other definitions, it is nothing more than bullying, and in today`s world bullying is an internationally recognised crime that is be punishable.

Although students (and even some f aculty members) claim it is all in good fun, if one were to see the state of the victims when they are battered, stripped, and sometimes even found unconscious outside their dorms, no humane person would think of it as fun.

It is an unprofessional conduct that is not befitting any future doctor, lest he/ she does the same to patients.

This `ragging`inflicts psychological and physical hurt on students. Though some recover with time, some become future bullies leading to a vicious cycle.

There have been instances which I witnessed myself in which the students become so traumatised that they are unable to continue their studies.

In today`s society where the whole public complains about the neglect and malicious dealings by doctors, if proper action were to be taken at the level of the educational institute, these so-called `doctors` would be prevented from gaining a degree that according to their mindset would allow them to harm the masses.

Dr M. Abdullah Mian Lahore