The Andhra Pradesh Junior Doctors Association (APJDA) has demanded the immediate withdrawal of Non-Resident Indians (NRI) and College Development (CD) quota seats in government medical colleges and threatened to launch a 'flash and indefinite strike' if the demand was not conceded with immediate effect.

The Association also sought the cancellation of GO Ms 90 which would bring government medical colleges and hospitals in the state under the management of Hospital Development Societies and removing medical colleges from the private sector.

APJDA president B Prabhakar said despite several representations, the government had not responded positively to their demands. “The counselling for post-graduate seats that are increased recently is to be conducted shortly and we demand the immediate scrapping of the NRI/CD quota seats,” he said.

Dr Prabhakar contended that despite opposition from students, the quota under these sections was introduced and then increased from 15 to 25 per cent, which was not acceptable to the Association. On the private medical colleges, the Association demanded that the government stop facilitating new colleges while ordering an inquiry to ascertain the infrastructure available with the existing colleges. “ Those not functioning properly should be derecognised immediately,” APJDA general secretary J Navin Kumar said.

Meanwhile, several medical and human rights associations have condemned the GO Ms 90. The GO was intended to shift the burden of managing the hospitals to the poor patients by paying user charges and eventually to privatize health services, they said.

At a joint meeting organized by the Indian Medical Association, AP Medical Employees Union, the Centre for Environment Concerns and several other organizations on Sunday, it was decided to resist the 'subversion of public health care system' and raise voice to improve the public health care system. Renowned human rights activist Jeevan Kumar said that the move would take away medical facilities from the poor people. The gradual privatization of government hospitals would adversely affect the poor families, he said.

Chairman of the Centre for Environment Concerns PVR Bhaskar Rao termed the GO as anti-people, anti-democratic and anti-constitutional. The GO was a culmination of the reform policy being implemented by the state government at the behest of the World Bank to privatize all services hitherto performed by the government and make it a source of profit at the expense of the poor, Dr Rao said. President of the IMA, AP chapter, Dr M V Ranga Reddy, called for a wider debate and said the GO which had far-reaching consequences, was issued without discussing it with those involved in the public health. He also suggested that the needs and concerns of the poor should be taken into consideration while formulating health policies. Otherwise, only the rich and well-off people would benefit from the advanced medicare.

Health Minister Dr Kodela Sivaprasada Rao on Sunday said there was nothing to panic about the GO which entrusts the responsibility of administering the government hospitals to registered Hospital Development Societies. Under the new system, the money collected through user charges in hospitals would not go to the government treasury. Instead the money would be utilized for the development of the hospital, the Minister clarified. The hospital committees would not have any power to take disciplinary action against employees of the hospital. He also denied that the government hospitals were being privatized.

Referring to the NRI quota of post-graduate seats in government medical colleges, Dr Rao said the quota would not affect the existing 700 PG seats in medical colleges. The Minister told newsman that seven seats were allotted to NRIs in the recently increased 72 seats. The quota did not apply to the already existing 700 PG seats in the state. The junior doctors and medical students need not worry about the new NRI quota. The fee collected from the NRI students would be utilized for the overall development of teaching hospitals, the Minister said.