How is seeking assistance from Centre anti-people, A.P. Health Minister asks YSRCP president

Minister for Health, Medical and Family Welfare Satya Kumar Yadav criticised former Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy for his allegations over the construction of new government medical colleges under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model and the State’s decision to seek Viability Gap Funding (VGF) from the Centre.

In a four-page letter to Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy, Mr. Satya Kumar Yadav questioned as to how seeking assistance from the Union government for expanding medical education in the State could be considered anti-people. He clarified that the Union government had introduced the VGF scheme to encourage private investment in the creation of healthcare infrastructure, including medical colleges, across the country.

The Minister’s response comes a day after Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy called the government’s decision to hand over the functioning of government medical colleges to private players a scam.

The Minister added that based on the State government’s proposals, the Centre had agreed in principle to provide VGF assistance for the construction of five medical colleges — at Narsipatnam, Amalapuram, Palakollu, Bapatla and Penugonda. Of the total construction cost of ₹3,706.6 crore for these five colleges, the Centre would provide ₹1,091.11 crore, or 30%, as VGF assistance, he said.

Urging Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy to stop making allegations against the NDA government, the Minister reminded him that the NDA government inherited a debt burden of more than ₹10 lakh crore due to five years of mismanagement and flawed economic policies (of previous YSRCP government).

‘’It is therefore that the NDA government has decided to run nine government medical colleges under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, keeping in view the State’s financial position, availability of resources, construction costs and annual maintenance expenditure,’’ the Minister said.