YSR Congress Party President and former Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Sunday, September 15 demanded the Telugu Desam Party-led coalition government in Andhra Pradesh to reconsider its plans to privatise medical colleges and retract the letter sent to the National Medical Commission (NMC) that could potentially reduce medical seats in the state.
The YSRCP chief, through a social media post, urged the TDP to prioritise public healthcare by completing the pending work in these institutions, ensuring quality medical education and free healthcare for the poor.
He warned that failure to act responsibly could lead to public outrage against the government's actions.
He criticised the coalition government led by N Chandrababu Naidu for undermining the state's progress in medical education and public healthcare. He denounced the government for rejecting additional MBBS seats offered by the Central government, calling it an act of self-sabotage that denied aspiring students the opportunity to pursue medical education.
Jagan Mohan Reddy noted that while neighbouring states were actively expanding their medical infrastructure, Andhra Pradesh missed a crucial opportunity due to the TDP's "negative response" while stressing that providing quality education and healthcare is a fundamental duty of any government.
He said that the previous YSRCP government had initiated revolutionary reforms in the healthcare sector, establishing 17 new medical colleges with an investment of Rs 8,480 crore. This initiative aimed to create a medical college in every parliamentary constituency, thereby increasing the availability of healthcare professionals across the state. He further highlighted that five of these colleges had already begun classes for the 2023-24 academic year, adding 750 MBBS seats to the state.
He also criticised the TDP's recent decisions to limit the number of seats in new medical colleges. He questioned the reduction of seats at the Paderu and Pulivendula medical colleges, alleging 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 YSRCP government had invested Rs 2,403 crore in medical infrastructure and prepared five more colleges for teaching activities, he said.
He stated that government medical colleges are vital for providing free super-speciality services to the poor and guiding other healthcare institutions like area hospitals, community health centres (CHCs), and primary health centres (PHCs) and warned that privatising these institutions would primarily harm poor students and local communities, leading to exorbitant fees due to the lack of competition in healthcare services.