Government of Andhra Pradesh has planned to establish one medical college in each district of the state in the coming years. Initiating moves in this direction the state government had already established one Government medical college in Nizamabad district with an intake of 100 students last year and had recently sanctioned Rs.362 crores for another medical college in Nellore with an intake of 150 students.
To push the momentum further the state government had allocated Rs.6481 cores as budget for the health and medical department for the year 2013-14 as against a budget of Rs.1400 crores last year. “Our aim is to provide affordable and quality healthcare to all citizens in the state. In this regard the state government is taking all the necessary steps to strengthen Medical and Health sector in the state,” said Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy at the inauguration function of Nellore Medical College.
The state government had already set aside100 acres of land for the Nellore Medical College project and had released Rs.5 crores to initiate the construction works for the project. To meet the MCI norms of necessary infrastructure and bed strength the existing Government TB Hospital adjacent to municipal corporation office will be shifted to a temporary accommodation in the general hospital premises by this month-end. The government has also allocated 30 acres of land at the general hospital premises for setting up nursing college, dental college and other facilities in the future. “The Medical College is coming at Dodla Subba Reddy Government hospital premises. It is a dream come true and a boon to students from the district and other nearby areas who have been going to Kurnool or Hyderabad to study MBBS. We are expecting to complete the project in the next two years,” informed Finance Minister Anam Ramnarayana, who hails from Nellore.
The Nizamabad Government Medical college project is being constructed by BPR Infrastructure Limited and has almost reached its completion. The government has spent almost Rs.90 crores and once all necessary infrastructure facilities like hospital building, spacious class rooms, laboratories and other facilities are in place the state government is planning to take admissions from the next academic year.
“To strengthen the Health Services Delivery System in the state, we are investing an amount of Rs.1,738 crores for the current year 2013-14. For this purpose we are pooling the funds under National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) and 13th Finance Commission grants in addition to our own resources,” informed the Minister.