A political controversy has broken out in Andhra Pradesh over the National Democratic Alliance government’s proposal to set up ten new medical colleges through public-private partnerships (PPPs), with the opposition YSR Congress Party accusing the government of resorting to ‘wholesale privatisation’ of medical education.
Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has asserted that these colleges would not be handed over to private parties and that the government would have full control over them.
“The medical colleges will not be handed over to private parties. We are providing only land. By developing them under PPP, we are ensuring that the government does not face any financial loss, but will retain complete control and oversight of the colleges. The PPP model ensures efficiency and accountability,” Naidu said.
The CM argued that when medical colleges fail to function properly due to a crisis in funding, students and health services suffer. “With PPP, we are bringing justice to medical students and improving health services,” he said.
Grave injustice
Taking to X, the YSRCP supremo and former Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy said, “This is a grave injustice to the people. Citizens across the state are opposing this move, and we strongly demand that the government immediately withdraw such an attempt.”
His party colleague and former medical and health minister V Rajini alleged that the move would make healthcare and medical education unaffordable. She accused Health Minister Satya Kumar Yadav of "misleading people with rhetoric" and claimed that the Telugu Desam Party-led NDA government was attempting to hand over public health infrastructure to private players under the guise of reforms.
Another YSRCP leader and former Deputy Speaker Kona Raghupathi, said, “During our tenure (2019 to 2024), seven colleges were fully constructed. Of them, five have already started functioning and the rest are nearing completion. In contrast, the current coalition government has halted construction for 15 months and is now unabashedly preparing to privatise these institutions.”
‘OP services to remain free’
Health, Family Welfare and Medical Education Minister Y Satya Kumar Yadav said that outpatient services in the PPP medical colleges would be free, like at all the other government medical colleges. “The NTR Vaidya seva facility, which provides free treatment for eligible beneficiaries, will also be available,” he said.
Yadav said that at least four new medical colleges would be established by next year. He claimed that the PPP model was proposed due to the failure of the previous YSRCP government.
“The YSRCP government proposed to set up 17 medical colleges, but only five became operational. It has created a lot of problems for students who were expecting seats. We are trying to ensure that as many medical seats as possible are available in the state,” he said.
“Jagan Reddy’s allegations that we are handing over medical colleges to private parties are absolutely false. Jagan’s plan to set up 17 government medical colleges failed as construction did not progress due to the non-allocation of funds. Of the approximately ₹8,500-crore budget for the 17 colleges, only ₹1,451-crore was allocated,” he said.
The present government has set a target of providing 2,550 MBBS seats by 2025-26, but due to poor infrastructure in some of the colleges set up previously, it could not be achieved, officials said.
Yadav pointed out that the medical college set up at Paderu was supposed to admit 150 students, but only 50 were admitted as the infrastructure was not ready. The National Medical Commission’s new guidelines mandate that admissions can be started only after all the infrastructure is in place.
Yadav said there was a difference between PPP and privatisation, as under PPP, the government retains full control despite investment being made by private players. “Very huge investments are required to set up medical colleges, and under the given circumstances, PPP is beneficial and prudent. There is no restriction on admissions, and the fee structure under the PPP model is also the same as other colleges. The financial condition of the state is not very good, and the government cannot make such huge investments,” he said.
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