Major Boost to Medical Education: 17 New Medical Colleges to Come Up in Andhra Pradesh

Visakhapatnam: Bringing good news to the medical aspirants in Andhra Pradesh, 17 new medical colleges are going to be set up in the State, apart from the existing 11 medical colleges.

Referring to Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy's proposal of setting up 17 new medical colleges, State Health Minister Vidadala Rajini informed the media that among these institutes, five medical colleges having world-class infrastructure will commence from the current academic year. 

Five other medical colleges will start functioning from the next academic year i.e. 2024-2025, informed the Health Minister adding that the State has already started taking measures for making the new medical colleges financially sustainable.

Also Read: Soon: New medical colleges to come up in each constituency of Andhra Pradesh

“A rational fee structure has been proposed by the officials to make the colleges financially self-sufficient. Students have been facing financial constraints as they have to shell out huge amounts of money in order to pay high fees for medical courses abroad. The new medical colleges in the State will help benefit medical aspirants. The interests of SC, ST and BC students will not be affected,” the minister told the New Indian Express.

According to the proposed fee structure by the State, the general category students will be charged Rs 15,000. For the category B seats, the fees will be Rs 12 lakh and for the NRIs, the annual fees will be Rs 20 lakh.

The Health Minister also took a dig at the opposition and opined that instead of criticising the State Government's efforts to improve the health and medical infrastructure, the political parties must extend their support. “Unlike the TDP regime, the YSRC govt is setting up 17 new medical colleges in the State,” the Minister said.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that the State Government of Andhra Pradesh had decided to construct new medical colleges for every Parliamentary constituency in the state for Rs 8,000 crore.

The confirmation in this regard came from Special Chief Secretary (Medical and Health) Mr Krishna Babu. He made the announcement while inspecting the work of the new medical college at Gajularega, on the outskirts of Vizianagaram.

Earlier, the Health Minister of the State had informed about setting up 17 new medical colleges in the last four years, spending Rs 500 crores on each college. She had also mentioned that five medical colleges in the State, which recently received approval from Dr NTR University of Health Sciences and the National Medical Commission, would commence classes in around 750 MBBS seats from September this year.

Also Read: With 750 MBBS seats, 5 Medical Colleges in Andhra Pradesh to begin admissions this year