Vijayawada: YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, former Chief Minister and YSRC President has criticized the TDP-led NDA government decision to privatise medical colleges and asked the AP government to reconsider its plans to privatise medical colleges, and retract the letter sent to the National Medical Commission (NMC) as it may potentially reduce the number of medical seats in Andhra Pradesh. Taking to the social media platform ‘X’ on Sunday, Jagan said the government should prioritise public healthcare by completing the pending works in the new medical colleges. “The failure to act responsibly may lead to public outrage against the NDA government,” he warned.
Jagan criticized the AP government for undermining the State’s medical education and public healthcare progress. He found fault with the government for rejecting additional MBBS seats offered by the Centre, terming it an act of self-sabotage that denied aspiring students the opportunity to pursue medical education. While the neighbouring States are actively expanding their medical infrastructure, Andhra Pradesh has missed a crucial opportunity due to the coalition government’s negative response to the NMC offer,” the former Chief Minister observed. Providing quality education to students and healthcare to people is a fundamental duty of any government.
The previous YSRC government had brought revolutionary reforms in the healthcare sector by setting up 17 new medical colleges with an investment of Rs 8,480 crore. The initiative aimed at ensuring a medical college in every parliamentary constituency, thereby increasing the availability of healthcare professionals across the State. Five of these colleges have already commenced classes from the academic year 2023-24, adding 750 MBBS seats to the State’s tally, he highlighted. Jagan underlined the need to set up government medical colleges to provide free super-speciality services to the poor and guiding other healthcare institutions like area hospitals, community health centres and primary health centres. “Privatisation of these institutions will primarily harm the interests of poor students and local communities, leading to exorbitant fees due to the lack of competition in healthcare services,” Jagan felt.
Jagan also criticised the government’s recent decision to limit the number of seats in new medical colleges. Questioning the reduction of seats at Paderu and Pulivendula medical colleges, he alleged that such moves indicated a larger plan to privatise these institutions, potentially leading to scams that would harm the public. Despite the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, the YSRC government had invested Rs 2,403 crore in medical infrastructure and set up five new medical colleges, he mentioned.