VIJAYAWADA: Health Minister Satya Kumar Yadav has strongly condemned former chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s criticism regarding the adoption of the Viability Gap Funding (VGF) model and Public-Private Partnership (PPP) framework for establishing new government medical colleges.
In a comprehensive four-page open letter addressed to Jagan on Thursday, the Minister lambasted the former regime’s severe financial mismanagement and sluggish execution of medical infrastructure projects.
Refuting allegations that availing central VGF assistance amounts to a betrayal of public interest, the Minister clarified that the Centre has granted in-principle approval to support five medical colleges — Narsipatnam, Amalapuram, Palacole, Bapatla, and Penugonda.
Out of a total estimated cost of Rs 3,706.60 crore for these five institutions, the Central government will fund Rs 1,091.11 crore (30 per cent) as VGF.
He questioned how securing massive Central assistance for state-wide medical education expansion could be deemed anti-people, attributing Jagan’s opposition to an underlying fear that the coalition government will successfully complete the stalled projects.
The Minister refuted Jagan’s claim that allocating Rs 1,000 crore annually could have completed all 17 medical colleges initiated during his tenure.
He said the previous government spent a mere Rs 1,406.60 crore (16.56 per cent) over four years against an approved outlay of Rs 8,480 crore and noted that completing the remaining work would require over Rs 7,093 crore.