CM Chandrababu Naidu defends PPP model for new medical colleges in Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu defended the PPP model for developing medical colleges, saying they will function as government institutions. He also urged officials to improve service delivery, accountability and public satisfaction through technology-driven governance.

Amaravati: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday defended the decision to develop medical colleges under the Public Private Partnership mode, saying it will ensure efficient services.

Speaking at the fifth collectors conference at the secretariat here, the Chief Minister addressed the politically sensitive issue of developing 10 medical colleges under the PPP model, a move vehemently opposed by the YS Jaganmohan Reddy-led YSRCP.

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According to the government, these 10 medical colleges were part of the 17 colleges sanctioned during the previous YSRCP government by the Centre. “Services will be better through PPP mode. Some people say that medical colleges are being privatised. Though they are being built through PPP mode they will operate as government colleges,” said Naidu.

Asserting that rules for the medical colleges will be set by the government, the CM said 70 per cent of their services will be extended to NTR Vaidya Seva scheme (welfare health scheme), and that medical seats were also increased. Noting that the Centre is also taking up projects under the PPP mode, Naidu said he was not afraid of criticism and that the truth must be told to people.

Hitting out at YSRCP, the CM said Rs 500 crore was spent on the ‘Rushikonda Palace’ in Vizag during the previous YSRCP government, which otherwise could have funded two medical colleges.

“The past government (YSRCP) had made several mistakes. It was not even in a position to pay salaries and availed loans at the highest interest rates. It created problems by availing debt at 13 to 14 per cent (interest rate),” Naidu said while addressing the collectors of 26 districts.

Further, the CM issued a warning to officials regarding bureaucratic inefficiency, particularly in the Revenue Department. “Identifying the loopholes in the system and making use of them gave rise to a situation where work is being forsaken. This scourge is the highest in the Revenue Department,” he said.

The Chief Minister stressed the need to give priority to public satisfaction and urged the collectors to adopt a speed of delivering government services strategy. Numbers alone will not serve the purpose and district collectors should initiate measures to increase satisfaction among people at field level with speedy delivery of government services, including redressal of grievances, he added.

Describing district collectors as “ambassadors of the government”, the CM expressed happiness over achieving 92 per cent satisfaction level in disbursal of pensions. Also, he directed the collectors to focus on data-driven decision-making in governance to achieve the best results.

Citing the functioning of the Revenue Department as an example, the Chief Minister said blockchain technology would be used to ensure accountability for every employee.

He set a deadline to move all government files and services available online by January 2026, and also instructed officials to focus more on ‘data lake’ to get real-time information. According to the CM, Google came forward to set up an Artificial Intelligence data centre in Visakhapatnam with the existence of proactive governance.