Jagan flays ‘privatisation’ of medical colleges in Andhra Pradesh

YSRCP president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has criticised Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu for “privatising medical colleges” and weakening the Arogyasri healthcare scheme.

In a post on X, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said, while Andhra Pradesh had 11 government medical colleges until 2019, Mr. Naidu did not establish any new ones during his earlier tenure. The YSRCP government had sanctioned 17 colleges between 2019 and 2024, of which five were completed. One college admitted students after the elections. “Had the NDA government continued the work, 12 colleges would have become operational,” he said.

He said Andhra Pradesh had 2,360 MBBS seats when the YSRCP took office, and the new colleges were expected to add 2,550 seats, nearly doubling the total to 4,910. Nearly 800 students had already been admitted in the completed institutions. He said the model was designed to make medical education accessible, with half the seats free and the remaining at much lower costs compared to the private colleges.

He alleged that the coalition government left Arogyasri underfunded. He said, of about ₹4,500 crore owed to hospitals in the last 15 months, only ₹600 crore was released, leaving dues of nearly ₹4,000 crore. He pointed out that the ‘Arogyasri Aasara’ benefit, which provided ₹5,000 per month to patients during recovery, had been discontinued.

Warning against shifting the scheme to private insurers, Mr. Jagan said such companies were profit-driven and might not cover future health crises.

If the YSRCP returned to power, it would reverse the privatisation of medical colleges and fully restore Arogyasri, he said.