Five AP Govt Medical Colleges To Aim For Top-100 Rank
As the NMC permits three postgraduate seats for every professor, the shortage could affect both the quality of education and the availability of PG seats: Health minister Satya Kumar Yadav
VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh government would prepare a roadmap to ensure that at least five government medical colleges in the state secure a place among the country's top 100 institutions.
Stating this on Thursday, health minister Satya Kumar Yadav asked officials to prepare the roadmap. He asserted that improving the quality of medical education is essential to producing competent doctors and strengthening public healthcare.
Chairing a three-hour review meeting at the state secretariat, the minister asked officials to adopt stringent measures to raise academic standards in both government and private medical colleges in accordance with the norms of the national medical commission.
Expressing concern over the acute shortage of faculty, Satya Kumar noted that nearly 200 of the 800 professor posts in the state's 17 government medical colleges remained vacant. The situation is particularly critical in 16 super-speciality departments, where 106 of the 159 professor posts are vacant.
As the NMC permits three postgraduate seats for every professor, the shortage could affect both the quality of education and the availability of PG seats, he noted.
Pointing out that private medical colleges retain professors up to the age of 70 and consequently have greater faculty strength, the minister advised the director of medical education, Dr Vishnuvardhan, to prepare a set of proposals on enhancing the retirement age of professors.
The minister asked Dr NTR University of Health Sciences to strictly enforce NMC norms by conducting surprise inspections of medical colleges, identifying deficiencies in teaching infrastructure and ensuring corrective action.
University officials informed him that the present government had added 230 MBBS seats and 250 postgraduate seats over the past two years.
Satya Kumar also ordered the immediate introduction of an online attendance monitoring system, reiterating that only students with the mandatory 75 per cent attendance should be permitted to appear for annual examinations. He stressed the need to strengthen bedside clinical teaching and inculcate ethical values and a spirit of service among medical students.
Reviewing financial performance, officials informed the minister that ₹4,130 crore, or 22.72 per cent, of the annual budget allocation of ₹18,216 crore had been spent during the first quarter of 2026-27, while only ₹357 crore, or 15.45 per cent, of the proposed central assistance of ₹2,308 crore had been utilised.
Expressing dissatisfaction over the low utilisation of central funds, Satya Kumar directed officials to improve coordination, expedite pending bills and ensure that utilisation of both the annual budget and Central assistance reaches at least 50 per cent by the end of the second quarter.