Chandrababu destroying healthcare through medical colleges privatization

Tadepalli, November 22: Former Minister Vidudala Rajini slammed Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu for “deliberately crippling Andhra Pradesh’s public health system” by rushing to privatize government medical colleges under the guise of Public–Private Partnership (PPP) and handing them over to his close associates for commissions and kickbacks. She said the 17 medical colleges launched during Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s tenure built with Rs. 8,500 crore, land, infrastructure and five already operational are being forcefully privatized instead of completing the remaining work with just Rs. 5,000 crore. This move, she warned, will push poor students away from medical education and turn free public healthcare into an expensive commodity.
Rajini stated that people across the state are opposing the government’s decision unanimously, reflected in the overwhelming public participation in YSRCP’s one-crore signatures movement against privatization. Yet, the coalition government continues with its agenda, proving its priorities lie not in public welfare but in benefiting private players. She condemned Minister Lokesh for refusing student unions’ appeal to withdraw privatization plans.
Calling the PPP model a scam, she said it will enable private operators to sell medical seats for crores and commercialize healthcare, rendering poor families helpless. She accused Chandrababu of attempting to dismantle Dr. YSR Aarogyasri by shifting it into an insurance model by Ugadi, making it profitable for insurance companies while excluding lakhs of needy patients. With unpaid bills of nearly Rs. 3,000 crore, network hospitals have already stopped treating patients under Aarogyasri, proving the government intends to kill the scheme.
Rajini said YSRCP strengthened public health with zero-vacancy recruitment, 3,257 Aarogyasri procedures, 2,300 network hospitals and modern government hospitals, ensuring no poor person had to sell assets for treatment. But under Chandrababu, healthcare has collapsed, patients are dying without treatment, NTR Health Support has disappeared, Nadu-Nedu hospital works are stalled, and privatization has become the government’s only policy.
She warned that if this continues, poor families will be forced to take loans and sell property for medical treatment or travel to other states. Rajini declared that YSRCP will continue statewide agitation until the government withdraws medical college privatization and protects Aarogyasri, urging the Chief Minister not to destroy the health rights of Andhra Pradesh’s people.