VIJAYAWADA: The State government, which is keen on taking forward the development of new medical colleges under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode, has attributed the poor response to the bids invited by it to the open threat issued by former Chief Minister and YSRCP chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.
In the first phase, the government invited bids for four medical colleges. However, only one bid was filed for the development of the medical college in Adoni. No bids were received for Madanapalle, Pulivendula and Markapuram medical colleges.
Medical and Health Minister Y Satya Kumar Yadav said apart from Jagan’s open threat, some YSRCP leaders had made phone calls to prospective bidders, and threatened them. “We have information in this regard, and will take action after looking into the matter,” he said.
On the other hand, chairing a review meeting on the Medical and Health Department at the State Secretariat on Wednesday, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu made it clear that there would be no compromise in providing better healthcare to poor people. The Chief Minister directed officials to go ahead to set up new medical colleges under the PPP mode to provide corporate medical care to the poor.
The officials informed the Chief Minister that tenders were called for Adoni, Madanapalle, Pulivendula and Markapuram medical colleges, and six national and international agencies participated in a pre-bid meeting conducted on October 6. They also informed him that site visits were arranged, and two pre-bid meetings were organised, besides clarifying the doubts of prospective bidders.
The officials explained the Central guidelines for the development of medical colleges under the PPP mode. “The viability gap funding can be extended by both Central and State governments, giving priority to the social health sector. Medical colleges and hospitals are being developed under the PPP mode in Arunachal Pradesh, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh,” they said. Naidu instructed the officials to go ahead and develop medical colleges and hospitals under the PPP mode as per the Central guidelines. He asked the officials to sign an MoU with the agency that came forward to develop Adoni medical college, and speed up the tender process for other colleges.
Naidu also reviewed the Sanjeevani pilot project grounded in his Kuppam constituency. He asked the officials to extend the project to the entire Chittoor district, and update the digital health records of people.
