Health Minister corners Telangana Governor over medical colleges claim

Tamilisai says State govt was late in applying for PMSSY, health minister counters with ‘proof’ of injustice by Centre
Telangana Health Minister T Harish Rao
Telangana Health Minister T Harish Rao

HYDERABAD: Hours after Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan tweeted that Telangana failed to apply in time for new medical colleges under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY), Health Minister T Harish Rao took to Twitter on Sunday to highlight the injustice done to the State by the Union government in sanctioning of medical colleges.

Earlier in the day, tweeting about the super speciality block of the Government Medical College in Kerala, Tamilisai praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the visionary scheme of building one medical college in each district across the nation.

Replying to the tweet, a netizen asked her about the colleges allotted to Telangana. To this, the Governor blamed the State government for not applying in time. She said: “When every state applied for new med colleges under PMSSY scheme Telangana failed to apply in time as stated by Union Health minister @MansukhMandavia You sleep and wake up late and ask. TN got 11 medical colleges in a single Year (sic)”.

Netizens react

The Governor’s response sparked a flurry of tweets by netizens who posted proof of Telangana’s applying for the medical colleges.In his series of tweets, Harish Rao pointed out the injustice done to Telangana, saying that despite repeated pleas from the State government, of the 157 medical colleges approved by the Centre, Telangana got zero.The health minister also cited a recent RTI which showed that the Union government released only Rs 156 crore out of Rs 1,365 crore estimated for the completion of All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) Bibinagar.

Discrimination, says Harish

“FACT is Gross injustice meted out to Telangana in sanctioning of Medical Colleges, despite repeated pleas from state govt to Centre. Of 157 medical colleges approved by centre, TS got ‘0’. Union Govt discriminated & deceived TS in all three phases of allotment of Colleges (sic)”, the first of the minister’s tweets said.He continued: “What’s worse is Union ministers’ contrasting statements on medical colleges. One said TS didn’t make any request, other said the Govt wanted colleges in Khammam & Karimnagar. By stating Centre didn’t give a nod bcos private colleges are already set up, Who is misleading people? (sic)”, Harish asked.

‘12 colleges set up by State’  

In the next tweet, he pointed out that Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has set up 12 medical colleges with the State’s own funds in tune to the vision of one  medical college in each district.“Telangana tops the country with 19 MBBS seats per lakh population? Instead of hurling abuses, Centre & Governor should appreciate TS govt for opening 8 colleges in a single day (sic)” Harish tweeted.He said that instead of releasing funds for AIIMS-Bibinagar, which is supposed to be on par with Delhi AIIMS, the Governor was making false claims and blaming the Telangana government.  

“Why only Rs 156cr of Rs 1365cr released & Why Gujarat AIIMS gets 52% of funds while TS gets 11.4% when both were sanctioned in 2018 (sic)” Harish asked, wondering why no one raises their voice about the injustice meted to Telangana. He asked the Governor why she could not find fault with Centre in the interest of Telangana.“It would be a great help to people of TS, if Raj Bhavan reorients its focus & pushes GoI for Tribal University and Rail Coach factory, as promised in the AP Reorganisation Act of 2014 (sic)”, Harish concluded.

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