PPP Key To Upgrading Health Infrastructure: Satya
“Within months of assuming office, we completed this long-pending project. No student should suffer due to administrative negligence”: Satya Kumar Yadav
VIJAYAWADA: Minister for medical and health Satya Kumar Yadav on Tuesday inaugurated the newly completed hostel for women students and senior resident women doctors at Government Siddhartha Medical College, asserting that student welfare and hospital infrastructure are top priorities of the NDA coalition government.
Addressing the gathering, the minister said it was unfortunate that girl students admitted on merit had been denied hostel facilities since 2015. “Within months of assuming office, we completed this long-pending project. No student should suffer due to administrative negligence,” he said.
He also referred to the poor condition of several nursing and medical colleges, citing distressing situations in Anantapur and Kurnool, and safety concerns arising from ageing buildings in Kakinada. The present government, he said, was completing the Rajamahendravaram medical college, estimated at ₹500 crore, and undertaking safety works even in Pulivendula, after funds were allegedly diverted there earlier.
Stressing the need for substantial investment to fully equip hospitals, Satya Kumar Yadav defended the public–private partnership (PPP) model, stating that it was the only viable way to ensure timely construction and quality health care. “There is no change in reservations. The government will retain a 50 per cent quota, and 70 per cent of beds will be reserved for Ayushman Bharat patients,” he clarified.
Vijayawada MP Kesineni Sivanath said the hostel project, sanctioned in 2017 at a cost of ₹21 crore, was stalled after 2019 and revived only after the NDA coalition came to power. He underlined that PPP, as recommended by the National Medical Commission and the Standing Committee on Health, was crucial for the rapid expansion of medical colleges, including in rural areas.
Sivanath also said efforts were under way to mobilise CSR funds to upgrade the Vijayawada Government Hospital, which registers about 4,200 outpatients daily, including for completing pending buildings and procuring a LINAC machine.
Vijayawada East MLA Gadde Ramamohan recalled that India’s first medical university was established under N.T. Rama Rao and said steps were being taken to develop a full-fledged cancer care unit at the hospital.
District collector Dr G Lakshmisha, MLA Yarlagadda Venkata Rao, senior officials, faculty members and students attended the programme.
