The Andhra Pradesh Cabinet has approved the issue of Essentiality Certificates for the establishment of four medical and four dental colleges in the private sector. The cabinet approved the colleges following the recommendations made by a committee headed by justice Bhaskara Rao.

The four medical colleges, which got the approval, are Medicare Educational Society, Warangal; Mother Teresa Educational Society, Amalapuram; the NRI Academy of Sciences, Guntur; and CSI Arogyavaram Medical Centre, Chittoor.

The dental colleges approved include Vignan Educational Development Society, Ongole; People's Educational Society, Kuppam; Kamineni Education Society, L B Nagar, Hyderabad and Medi Citi Hospitals, Ghanpur, R R District, near Hyderabad. The Group had already started a medical college from this academic year.

Essentiality Certificates are issued after the institutions fulfill certain preliminary requirements. These institutions would have to develop the necessary infrastructure and approach the Medical Council of India (MCI) for inspection and final approval.

Dr Kodela Sivaprasad Rao, Minister for Medical and Health, recently announced the government's decision to sanction 17 medical and 21 dental colleges in the private sector. At present there are 20 medical colleges, half of them private, and 10 dental colleges in the state with an intake of 2,500 and 760 students respectively.