Former Health Minister in YS Jaganmohan Reddy’s regime Vidadala Rajini criticized the coalition government for putting medical care on sale in the state with the privatization of medical colleges and changing the Aarogyasri into an unsustainable module.
Speaking to the media, she said YS Jaganmohan Reddy during his tenure has carefully built a medical system to benefit the poorer section of the society.She affirmed that YSRCP strongly opposes the privatization move.
However, she deplored that Chandrababu Naidu has been erasing it and putting the entire system into the hands of private players which will badly affect the poorer sections of the society. She lamented that Chandrababu has been changing public health into a business module which we strongly oppose.
She added that the poorer sections of the people will be kept away from the medical system once the private players come into play. Rajani expressed concern that the cabinet decision of medical colleges under the PPP system badly affected the poorer sections as they were getting medical care free of cost from consultation to tests to surgery and recovery.
She asserted that Jaganmohan Reddy had planned for 17 medical colleges and five of them were functioning and another five were near completion. But, she wondered that Chandrababu has brought in the PPP model under medical education that will be out of reach to the poor aspiring students.
“We have allotted and acquired land for all the 17 colleges and the land bank is now being given on a platter to the private players which is nothing short of a scam” she alleged.
The former Health Minister accused that Chandrababu has been making money at the cost of the health of the poor and YSRCP strongly opposes the move as it would widen the gap in society. She made it clear that if the government goes ahead with the PPP model, they will reverse it after coming to power.
She warned that changing the Aarogyasri into hybrid model is not viable as it has limitations and the poor who have been getting quality medical care stand to lose on numerous counts. She mentioned that Jaganmohan Reddy government has spent Rs 3600 crore annually on medical care and people are now rethinking about their franchise.
Rajani deplored that the present government is neglecting the health sector and is not paying bills and the bills of network hospitals are not being cleared. While Jagan took medical care to village level with clinics and family doctor concept, she said that the coalition is trying to erase.
