A prominent YSRCP figure and former minister, Dharmana Prasada Rao, issued a fervent appeal to the State government on Tuesday, urging them to reverse their controversial decision to privatize 17 state-run medical colleges. These institutions were meticulously established during the tenure of the Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy administration.
During a press conference, Rao emphasized that this move would create significant barriers for students from economically weaker sections, effectively blocking their path to affordable medical education. Furthermore, he highlighted that the privatization would deny impoverished patients crucial access to advanced medical care at the super specialty hospitals that were meticulously built alongside these colleges.
He recalled the substantial effort invested by the previous Jagan Mohan Reddy government in not only constructing these colleges but also securing essential approvals from the Union government. Rao asserted that the benefits of these efforts should rightfully be accessible to both aspiring medical students and needy patients.
Rao pointed out a stark contrast: the original framework stipulated that 50% of seats in these 17 government medical colleges would be offered at a minimal fee of just ₹15,000. However, under the proposed public-private-partnership model, he alleged that these very same seats would command an exorbitant price of ₹50 lakh.
Additionally, the former minister raised concerns about the “dilution” of the Arogya Shree health scheme, attributing it to a lack of timely payments to private hospitals. He further claimed that government hospitals have been struggling with a severe shortage of essential equipment for the past 18 months, rendering them incapable of performing vital major surgical procedures.