VIJAYAWADA: Tourism Minister Kandula Durgesh has strongly condemned the YSR Congress Party’s (YSRCP) false propaganda about building new government medical colleges under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model.
Speaking to the media, Minister Durgesh clarified that the PPP model will not privatise government medical colleges. “The speed of construction will increase through the PPP model, but after completion, the State government will retain full control and ownership over the colleges,” he said, adding that the move will make medical education accessible to more people.
Durgesh said the plan allows each new medical college to increase MBBS seats by at least 150. “They are distorting facts by saying colleges worth Rs 8,500 crore are being leased to benamis for Rs 5,000 crore,” he said. He also accused the previous YSRCP regime of spending only 17 per cent of the sanctioned Rs 8,500 crore on these colleges and failing to appoint staff or even start classes in the five institutions they claimed to have built.
He asserted that the coalition government has decided to revive and complete stalled projects, with colleges in Vizianagaram, Rajahmundry, Eluru, Machilipatnam, and Nandyal set to start with minimal facilities in 2023-24, and Paderu in 2024-25.
Construction in Markapuram, Adoni, Madanapalle, Pulivendula, Narsipatnam, Amalapuram, Palakollu, Bapatla, and Penukonda will be expedited.
“The allegation that medical education is being taken away from poor students is completely untrue,” Durgesh said, urging YSRCP to stop misleading the public about a decision taken after “long deliberation and cabinet approval.”