In the past five years, about 13 medical colleges from the State, attached to existing district/referral hospitals, including three private colleges, have applied to the National Medical Commission (NMC) for Letters of Permission (LoP) under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS).
Out of the 13, six medical colleges, including one private college, have been approved so far, informs Anupriya Patel, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, in a written response to Nellore MP Vemireddy Prabhakar Reddy’s question in the Lok Sabha on Friday. The MP raised several questions on the establishment of new medical colleges in Andhra Pradesh.
Ms. Anupriya said that the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is currently prioritising the setting up of new medical colleges under the CSS in areas and districts with no government or private medical colleges. She added that funds will be provided by the Central and State governments in the ratio of 90:10 to the North-East and Special Category states, and 60:40 to other states.
The Union Minister further said that approvals have been given to 157 medical colleges under this scheme in three phases. The third phase started in August 2019. Seven proposals have been received from the A.P. government for setting up medical colleges in Vizianagaram, Paderu, Piduguralla, Machilipatnam, Eluru, Markapuram (Prakasam) and Pulivendula (YSR Kadapa), she informed.
Among them, approval has been granted for the establishment of new medical colleges in Piduguralla, Paderu and Machilipatnam, under the CSS. Government Medical Colleges at Vizianagaram, Eluru, Nandyal, Rajamahendravaram, and Machilipatnam, along with Sri Balaji Medical College in Chittoor were also given LoP by the NMC, she stated.
