VIJAYAWADA: CPI national secretary K Ramakrishna has strongly opposed the Andhra Pradesh government’s plan to run newly established medical colleges under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model.
He demanded that the State immediately withdraw the proposal and ensure that all medical colleges remain under full government control.
In a press release issued on Sunday, Ramakrishna accused Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu of showing undue enthusiasm in handing over government-funded medical institutions to private players.
He noted that political parties, student and youth organizations, civil society groups, and intellectuals across the state are united in opposing the PPP policy.
Citing former Union Health Secretary Sujatha Rao’s recent article, Ramakrishna said the PPP model in medical education would not only burden patients but also disadvantage students from middle-class and economically weaker sections.
He pointed out that land, infrastructure, and resources for new medical colleges were provided entirely by the government, yet the administration is preparing to pay staff salaries for two years while allowing private operators to collect fees from students.
“This is nothing but handing over public assets to private interests,” Ramakrishna alleged, adding that even tenders have failed to attract bidders, while Health Minister Satyakumar is making misleading claims about the process.
Referring to Naidu’s remarks at an NTR Trust event in Hyderabad, where he urged poor and middle-class families to use education as a weapon for progress, Ramakrishna questioned the contradiction. “How can education and healthcare remain accessible if the government itself transfers these sectors to private hands?” he asked, noting that primary, higher, engineering, and university education in Andhra Pradesh is already dominated by private institutions.
The CPI leader condemned the PPP approach as detrimental to public welfare and urged the Chief Minister to act prudently by scrapping the policy. “Medical colleges must be run under government control to safeguard the interests of students and the common people,” he asserted.