Privatisation of govt. medical colleges will hurt the poor: YSRCP leader

Former minister and senior YSRCP leader Dharmana Prasada Rao on Tuesday urged the State government to withdraw its decision to privatise the 17 government medical colleges constructed during the Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy regime.

Addressing the media, he said that the decision would deprive students from disadvantaged backgrounds access affordable medical college seats and deny poor patients access to treatment in super specialty hospitals developed adjacent to the colleges.

He added that the Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s government had put a lot of effort in constructing and obtaining approvals from the Union government. The fruits need to be reaped by students as well as poor patients.

Mr. Prasada Rao said that under the original plan, 50% of the seats in these 17 government medical colleges were to be filled with a nominal fee of ₹15,000 each, but under the public-private-partnership mode, the same seats would be sold at ₹50 lakh.

He also alleged that the Arogya Shree scheme has been diluted by non-payment of dues to private hospitals. He claimed that the for the past one-and-a-half year, government hospitals lacked equipment, preventing them from conducting major operations.