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Visakhapatnam, Oct 9 (IANS) The opposition YSR Congress Party is set to launch a crore signature campaign from Friday demanding rollback of privatization of medical colleges, while party president and former chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy led a massive protest in Narsipatnam in Anakapalle district on Thursday.
Addressing the gathering against the backdrop of half-built medical colleges, he said that while the YSRCP government had taken the initiative to bring 17 medical colleges to make medical care and education accessible to the people, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu led coalition government is privatizing medical colleges and excluding the poor sections from these facilities.
Describing hospitals as modern temples, Jagan Mohan Reddy said that private companies will exploit the poor and Chandrababu Naidu’s decision will put public health in danger.
“Of the 17 medical colleges, five were completed during our tenure and classes started in Pulivendula and Paderu. Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has also issued a memorandum to stop the construction of medical colleges with the intention of privatizing them,” he said.
The former chief minister said the total medical seats would have increased to 4,910, of which 2,360 would be available free of cost to poor students and the rest at much lower fees than private colleges, thereby ensuring that crores of families could access affordable medical education and free healthcare.
Jagan Mohan Reddy said Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu is willing to spend Rs 2 lakh crore on Amaravati, but does not have the will to spend Rs 500 crore on each medical college for public health.
“This shows where his (Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s) priorities lie. Due to lack of proper medical facilities, patients have to go to King George Hospital in Visakhapatnam. The recent incident at Kurupam hostel, where tribal students fell ill due to contaminated water, also shows the government’s gross negligence,” he said.
Giving details of the protest programme, Jagan Mohan Reddy said Rachabanda outreach programs would be organized from October 10 to November 22, where Chandrababu Naidu’s neglect and failures would be highlighted and one crore signatures would be collected.
He said that sit-ins will be held at constituency and district headquarters on October 28 and November 12.
The signatures will reach Vijayawada by November 23 and then the memorandum will be submitted to Governor S Abdul Nazeer.
He said the signature papers would go from the constituencies to the district centers on November 23 and from the districts to Vijayawada in lorries on November 24, before being handed over to the Governor.
Meanwhile, at the YSRCP central office in Amaravati, a crore signature campaign poster was unveiled by YSRCP state coordinator Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy.
He said the campaign will continue for more than 45 days, starting with the Rachabanda program in all 175 constituencies on Friday, where posters will be released simultaneously.
As part of the agitation plan, massive constituency-level rallies will be held on October 28, followed by district-level rallies and submission of memorandums on November 12.
–IANS
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