Vijayawada: Retired IAS officer and former Special Chief Secretary Dr PV Ramesh has urged the State government to immediately withdraw GO No 590, which permits privatisation of 10 government medical colleges under the Public–Private Partnership (PPP) model, and to ensure that these institutions are run solely by the government.

Addressing the State conference against PPP in Government Medical Colleges, held at MB Bhavan here, Dr Ramesh, said that introducing PPP in medical education and healthcare violates the constitutional right to life. He stated that governments have a primary duty to provide education, healthcare, and nutrition to all citizens and warned that failure to build a healthy population would hamper economic growth.

Dr Ramesh criticised the PPP model as a means of diverting public assets to private interests, under the pretext of funding shortages.

CPI State secretary K Ramakrishna condemned the move, questioning the government’s role if every sector was being handed over to private entities. CPM State secretary V Srinivasa Rao accused the coalition government of weakening public institutions under its Vision 2047 plan while giving undue concessions to private players.

Congress leader Dr N Tulasi Reddy alleged that the coalition government was ‘privatising the state treasury itself’, motivated by commissions, while former Minister Vadde Shobhanadreeswara Rao warned that the PPP policy would ultimately lead to the government’s downfall.

Speakers including Dr A Venkateswarlu, president of the AP Medicos Association, KS Lakshmana Rao, and Vallamreddy Lakshman Reddy demanded immediate withdrawal of GO 590 and previous GOs 107 and 108 issued under the self-finance model.

The conference unanimously passed a resolution demanding cancellation of the PPP model in government medical colleges and the formation of the AP Government Colleges Protection Committee, with Dr PV Ramesh as chairman and Dr A Venkateswarlu as convener.

Dr J Poornachandra Rao, Dr Kurra Vasundhara, Korivi Vinay Kumar, T Dhanunjaya Reddy, and others, united in their call to safeguard public education and healthcare from privatisation.