Jagan slams Andhra govt's medical college privatisation as 'brazen corruption'

Amaravati, Sep 5 (PTI) YSRCP supremo YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday slammed the Andhra Pradesh government’s decision to "privatise" government medical colleges, calling it a “brazen example of corruption,” and vowed to bring them back under state control after returning to power.

Reddy’s remarks come a day after the Andhra Pradesh cabinet decided to develop 10 new medical colleges under Public Private Partnership (PPP).

Information and Public Relations Minister K Parthasarathy had said on Thursday that these 10 medical colleges were part of the 17 colleges sanctioned during the previous YSRCP regime by the Centre.

“Chandrababu Naidu has done what we have suspected... Privatising the medical colleges which we had established is an example of brazen corruption,” said Reddy in a post on X.

He claimed that Naidu is siphoning off people’s assets for "commissions to his cronies".

He pointed out that between 1923 and 2019, Andhra Pradesh had only 12 government medical colleges, including Padmavathi Autonomous College, and accused Naidu of "failing" to establish a single new college despite serving three terms as Chief Minister.

In contrast, the YSRCP government sanctioned 17 new medical colleges between 2019 and 2024.

According to Reddy, Andhra Pradesh had only 2,360 MBBS seats when YSRCP came to power. The new colleges added 2,550 seats, almost doubling the total to 4,910.

Half of the seats were offered free of cost and the rest at much lower fees compared to private colleges, ensuring accessibility to poor and middle-class families.

Reddy further alleged that Naidu is blocking approvals and admissions, including writing to the National Medical Commission (NMC) against Pulivendula Medical College.

“When parents are already forced to sell their assets to send children abroad for MBBS seats in countries like Ukraine, Russia, and the Philippines, why is Naidu destroying the opportunity to study in Andhra Pradesh at affordable cost?” he asked.

Further, the YSRCP chief charged the NDA alliance government with "weakening" the ‘Aarogyasri’ health scheme, a welfare scheme from the previous government, claiming that dues worth Rs 4,500 crore were not cleared for private hospitals.

“The scheme, which covered 3,257 procedures free of cost up to Rs 25 lakh per family, was abandoned. Even the ‘Arogyasri Aasara’ benefit that provided Rs 5,000 per month to patients during recovery was stopped, with dues of nearly Rs 600 crore left unpaid,” he said.

Reacting to the Andhra Pradesh cabinet approving a proposal to invite tenders from insurance companies to extend universal health policy, which will offer healthcare services up to Rs 25 lakh, Reddy wondered how the government, which could not spend Rs 3,600 crore for Aarogyasri would spend Rs 5,000 crore on premiums for private insurance.

Further, he claimed that private insurers work for profit and cannot be compared with a government scheme that provided free treatment even during COVID-19.

“In future health emergencies, people will be left helpless as private insurance will not cover new diseases. Naidu’s decisions are aimed only at handing over public money to his associates under the guise of premium payments,” he alleged.

As soon as we return to power, Reddy said his ‘government’ will cancel these privatization decisions and bring back all the medical colleges into the government sector.

We will also fully restore Arogyasri for the benefit of the poor, he added.

Meanwhile, there was no immediate reaction from the TDP. PTI STH ROH