Telangana's governor and health minister were embroiled in a Twitter spat over the Centre's sanctioning of funds for new medical colleges in the state. While Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan tweeted that Telangana failed to apply in time for new medical colleges under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY), Health Minister T Harish Rao took to Twitter on Sunday, March 5, to highlight the injustice done to the State by the Union government in sanctioning of medical colleges, reported The New Indian Express.
Soundararajan on Sunday, March 5 tweeted about the super speciality block of the Government Medical College in Kerala and praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the "visionary scheme" of building one medical college in each district across the nation. Replying to the tweet, a netizen asked her about the colleges allotted to Telangana. To this, the Governor blamed the State government for not applying in time. She said, “When every state applied for new med colleges under PMSSY scheme Telangana failed to apply in time as stated by Union Health minister @MansukhMandavia You sleep and wake up late and ask. TN got 11 medical colleges in a single Year (sic).”
Harish claims discrimination
The governor’s response sparked a flurry of tweets by netizens who posted proof of Telangana applying for the medical colleges. In his series of tweets, Harish Rao pointed out the injustice done to Telangana, saying that despite repeated pleas from the State government, of the 157 medical colleges approved by the Centre, Telangana got zero. The health minister also cited a recent RTI which showed that the Union government released only Rs 156 crore out of Rs 1,365 crore estimated for the completion of All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) Bibinagar, reported TNIE.
“FACT is Gross injustice meted out to Telangana in sanctioning of Medical Colleges, despite repeated pleas from state govt to Centre. Of 157 medical colleges approved by centre, TS got ‘0’. Union Govt discriminated & deceived TS in all three phases of allotment of Colleges (sic),” the first of the minister’s tweets said. He went on to add, “What’s worse is Union ministers’ contrasting statements on medical colleges. One said TS didn’t make any request, other said the Govt wanted colleges in Khammam & Karimnagar. By stating Centre didn’t give a nod bcos private colleges are already set up, Who is misleading people? (sic).”
Telangana's vision for medical colleges
In the next tweet, the health minister pointed out that Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has set up 12 medical colleges with the state’s own funds in tune with the vision of one medical college in each district. “Telangana tops the country with 19 MBBS seats per lakh population? Instead of hurling abuses, Centre & Governor should appreciate TS govt for opening 8 colleges in a single day (sic),” Harish tweeted. The minister went on to question the delay in release of funds for AIIMS Bibinagar, which is supposed to be on par with AIIMS Delhi and said that the governor was making false claims and blaming the Telangana government.
“Why only Rs 156cr of Rs 1365cr released & Why Gujarat AIIMS gets 52% of funds while TS gets 11.4% when both were sanctioned in 2018 (sic),” Harish asked, wondering why no one raises their voice about the "injustice" meted to Telangana. He asked the governor why she could not find fault with the Centre in the interest of Telangana. “It would be a great help to people of TS, if Raj Bhavan reorients its focus & pushes GoI for Tribal University and Rail Coach factory, as promised in the AP Reorganisation Act of 2014 (sic),” Harish concluded.
