Vijayawada: Health minister Kamineni Srinivas Rao’s recent statement about shifting of the Dr NTR University of Health Sciences, has attracted criticism from different quarters. Some believe that the government is planning to shift the university to accommodate the minister’s camp office.
The health university, the first of its kind in the country, was set up by former Chief Minister N.T. Rama Rao in 1986 to streamline medical education of the state. Over 400 medical colleges in both Andhra and Telangana are functioning under the university.
Former Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, during his tenure, had allotted 75 acres of land to the health university to set up an academic campus and research laboratories.
It may be noted, that the TD, which is now in power, had in the past opposed the move to shift the health university. When a proposal to shift the university was made in 2011, former principal secretaries of health — Dr P.V. Ramesh and L.V. Subrahmanyam — had visited the university. The TD MLAs had opposed the move to shift the university to Mangalagiri. They recommended development of a super speciality hospital on the premises of Sidhartha Medical College.
NTR Health University Employees’ Union president K. Narasimha Rao said the state should allot land for an academic campus and the existing administrative and counselling blocks should be continued here for students’ convenience.
