No NMC permission to 5 new medical colleges in Andhra Pradesh

Visakhapatnam: The proposed medical colleges at Markapur, Madanapalle, Adoni, Paderu, and Pulivendula of Andhra Pradesh have failed to receive the nod from the National Medical Commission, which denied to grant its approval after pointing out several deficiencies in these institutes.

As per sources, among the deficiencies pointed out by NMC, one issue was that only 22% of the total sanctioned cost for the completion of works at these five medical colleges has been spent. Although a total amount of Rs 2,425 crore was sanctioned for these institutes, the previous government spent only Rs 533 crore, TOI has reported.

Apart from this, it has also come to light that payments of around Rs 188 crore for these five medical colleges have been pending since July 2023. Because of the pending payments, contractors are not willing to continue with the construction work.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that Andhra Pradesh was planning to establish five new government medical colleges at Pulivendula, Paderu, Markapuram, Adoni, and Madanapalle with an intake capacity of 150 MBBS seats each.

After the State applied for the NMC's approval for these proposed medical colleges, a high-level committee from the Apex Medical Commission inspected these institutes on June 25 and accordingly submitted its report to the Commission.

Also Read: NMC puts Clearances for 5 New AP Medical Colleges on HOLD over infrastructure deficiencies

Reportedly, the inspection committees were dissatisfied with the poor infrastructure facilities at Adoni and Markapuram medical colleges and suggested possible improvements at the medical colleges at Padery and Madandapalle.

As per the latest media report by the Times of India, NMC has denied granting permission to these five new medical colleges for the academic year 2024-2025 and sources informed that the Commission pointed out several deficiencies in these institutes including not utilising the sanctioned cost for completing the construction works.

For instance, in the case of Madanapalle College, while Rs 475 crore was sanctioned, only 30 crore i.e. 6% of the approved cost has been spent. In the cases of Markapur and Adonu Medical Colleges, only 10% of the sanctioned costs were spent for each of these institutes.

In Paderu Medical College, 23% of the approved cost i.e. 117 crore out of Rs 500 crore was spent and for Pulivendula medical college, 58% of the sanctioned cost i.e. Rs 293 crore out of Rs 500 crore was spent.

The engineers of the Andhra Pradesh Medical Services and Infrastructure Development Corporation (APMSIDC) have estimated that it takes at least 30 months to complete the major civil works of the new medical colleges. 

Meanwhile, The New Indian Express has reported that the tender agreements for these colleges were signed late and due to this, there was insufficient time to complete the necessary civil works. While the agreements for Markapur and Madanapalle's agreements were signed in February 2023, the agreements for Adoni and Pulivendula were signed in December 2022 and the agreement for Paderu was signed in June 2021. 

As per the TOI data, these colleges are facing overall 51% deficiency for the posts of professors, and there are around 46% shortages for associate professors and 26% shortage of assistant professors.

The faculty deficiency is at 48% for Pulivendula Medical College, 42% for Markapur, 37% for Adoni, 32% for Paderu, and 13% for Madanapalle medical college. NMC has further reported that the construction work for infrastructure and procurement are still underway. 

Among these five medical colleges, Paderu Medical College is receiving financial assistance from the Union Government under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme. Therefore, out of the Rs 500 crore sanctioned cost, Union Government will provide Rs 196 crore funding for this medical college. Apart from this, the State also sought special assistance for capital investment from the Union Government and received Rs 100 crore.

However, as per the TOI report, the previous YSRCP govt did not release the 195 crore, sactioned under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme, and it also did not release the Rs 100 crore special assistance.

Apart from Paderu Medical College, the other four medical colleges are receiving support from the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) at 4% interest rate. NABARD is providing 85% of the sanctioned cost, as per the rules. However, since the previous Government did not release the funds, the progress of works has been slow. This ultimately resulted in the deficiencies in the civil construction and the contractors failed to deploy the required manpower with their payments pending.

Since the new government came into power only on June 12, 2024, it had less than two weeks to prepare before the NMC inspection. Therefore, the present administration has blamed the previous government's mismanagement for the deficiencies in these medical colleges and claimed that such deficiencies could not be rectified in such a short time.

Commenting on the matter, a senior health department official told TOI, "The new NDA govt in the state took charge on June 12. The NMC inspected the five colleges on June 24, and pointed out several deficiencies. The deficiencies were entirely due to hasty planning and faulty execution by the previous govt. It is impossible for the new govt to cover up the deficiencies in less than two weeks."

The Director of Medical Education Dr Narasimham confirmed to TNIE that the NMC approval for these five medical colleges is pending. He added that after creating the necessary infrastructure as per the NMC guidelines, requests can be made to send the expert committee again to inspect the facilities to issue the LoP.

Also Read: Andhra Pradesh to launch 5 New Medical Colleges this year, 750 MBBS Seats to be added