Hyderabad: Two years since Jagan Mohan Reddy inaugurated five medical colleges in one go, the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the opposition YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) are in a war of words over the mode of developing the rest of the colleges planned by the previous Andhra Pradesh government.
The Chandrababu Naidu administration has issued orders to set up 10 medical colleges in the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode, a move being strongly opposed by the opposition party.
After last year’s move reinstating the health university name to Dr NTR University of Health Sciences from Dr YSR-UHS (named after Jagan’s father and former chief minister YSR Reddy), the PPP decision is seen as Naidu altering his predecessor’s blueprint in the health sector.
Till 2019, Andhra Pradesh had only 12 government-run medical colleges. As part of a plan to strengthen the public health sector, Jagan initiated the process of setting up 17 new colleges, in order to have at-least one medical college in each of Andhra Pradesh’s 26 districts.
Each college was planned at an estimated cost of Rs 500 crore, on a 50-acre expanse, as a medical hub, linking tertiary care to the Primary Health Centres (PHCs), Community Health Centres (CHCs), and village clinics.
Paderu, Machilipatnam and Piduguralla were sanctioned under the Centrally Funded Schemes (CSS), Rajahmundry, Eluru and Nandyal colleges were tied up funding under Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment (SASCI) and the remaining 11 were tied up under the NABARD funding.
On 15 September 2023, Jagan opened a new medical college at Vizianagaram, while four more were initiated at Rajahmundry, Eluru, Machilipatnam and Nandyal, with classes beginning at all these centres from the 2023-24 academic year.
One more college constructed during Jagan’s tenure, at Paderu, was opened last October. Classes are running there, too.
Now, amid the opposition leaders’ apprehension and claims, the Naidu government issued an order last week approving the proposal to develop 10 new medical colleges, out of 17 under Jagan’s plan, in the PPP model.
These 10 colleges are located at Adoni, Madanapalli, Markapuram, Penukonda, Palakollu, Amalapuram, Narsipatnam, Bapatla, Parvathipuram and Jagan’s assembly constituency Pulivendula.
YSRCP leaders said that building of some of these colleges was progressing well, and the one at Pulivendula was ready to use, but that the coalition government stalled all the construction and development to deny Jagan the credit.
On Monday, Jagan made his displeasure known on ‘X’. “September 15, 2023, remains one of the most satisfying days of my tenure as Chief Minister when we inaugurated medical colleges in Vizianagaram, Rajahmundry, Eluru, Machilipatnam, and Nandyal, marking a historic step forward in strengthening public healthcare. These five colleges alone added 750 MBBS seats, which was a source of immense satisfaction for me. Along with this, the medical colleges in Paderu and Pulivendula were also made ready for admissions,” he wrote
Instead of completing the construction of the remaining 10 medical colleges, he alleged, the government was trying to hand them over to private entities.
“This is a grave injustice to the people. Citizens across the state are opposing this move, and we strongly demand that the government immediately withdraw such an attempt,” Jagan wrote, posting a montage of videos from the six colleges and Pulivendula.
ఆంధ్రప్రదేశ్ ప్రజారోగ్య రంగంలో 15 సెప్టెంబర్, 2023 ఒక గొప్ప రోజు. ఒక ముఖ్యమంత్రిగా పరిపాలనా కాలంలో నాకు అత్యంత సంతృప్తిని మిగిల్చిన రోజు. నేను ఒక మంచి పని చేయగలిగానన్న తృప్తి నాకు లభించింది. 1923 నుంచి 2019 వరకు ఆంధ్రప్రదేశ్ లో ప్రభుత్వ రంగంలో కేవలం 12 మెడికల్… pic.twitter.com/zd5RJwE9cd
— YS Jagan Mohan Reddy (@ysjagan) September 15, 2025
At a press conference a day after the PPP mode order was issued, Jagan described the move as an epitome of the Naidu regime’s corruption.
“We had planned everything, acquired lands, and construction was underway at rest of the colleges too. By the time we stepped down, nearly Rs 3,000 crore worth of works were already completed. For the remaining Rs 5,000 crore, tie-ups with NABARD, Centre’s special assistance, and other institutions had been finalized. Then what is the problem in developing the other 10 colleges?” Jagan questioned.
He alleged that the PPP route was an apparent route to handover the colleges to private players close to the ruling party leaders.
Citing the alleged atrocities of some corporate hospitals during the Covid pandemic, Jagan and other YSRCP leaders contend that government colleges and attached hospitals providing free or affordable health care would keep such unscrupulous private players in check.
YSRCP is also charging that the PPP mode will make medical education unaffordable for the middle class parents dreaming to making their wards a doctor. A MBBS seat in private/NRI quota in such colleges would cost up to Rs 57.50 lakh per year, while such seat in the five new government colleges inaugurated by Jagan is only Rs 20 lakh per annum, the party says.
Jagan, in the presser, warned interested bidders from taking part in the tenders, as he “will cancel all such agreements once he is back in power.” “We will take over any such medical colleges operating under PPP mode.”
Health Minister Satya Kumar Yadav responded to Jagan in an open letter to the former chief minister.
Yadav claimed that Jagan’s plan to set up 17 medical colleges never took off and mocked him for “not knowing the difference between privatisation and the PPP model.”
“Only Rs 1,451 crore was spent under Jagan, just 17 percent against the total required Rs 8,480 crore to complete all the colleges,” Kumar said, adding that even as per Jagan’s plan, the colleges were to be run under a self-financing model.
Accusing Jagan of political doublespeak and false propaganda, the minister stated that the actual plan was to admit 2,550 MBBS students across all the 17 new government medical colleges by 2025–26.
But development delays and inadequate infrastructure have upset the goal, he said.
Citing the 2023 National Medical Council’s (NMC) revised guidelines that mandated full infrastructure readiness before admissions, Yadav said there were reduced admissions at colleges like Paderu “where only 50 students could be admitted against the proposed 150.”
However, the YSRCP is pushing ahead with protests. It has announced a state-wide programme ‘Chalo Medical College’ on 19 September to oppose the government’s decision to “privatise” the 10 new government medical colleges and where party’s youth and student wing activists will “explain facts to the public.”
(Edited by Tony Rai)