Visakhapatnam, Oct 9 : Opposition YSR Congress Party is set to launch one-crore signature campaign from Friday demanding a rollback of the privatisation of medical colleges while the party President and former Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, on Thursday, led a huge protest at Narsipatnam in Anakapalli district.

Addressing the gathering with the semi-finished medical college in the backdrop, he said that while the YSRCP government had taken the initiative to bring 17 medical colleges to make medical care and education accessible to the people, the coalition government led by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu is privatising the medical colleges and driving poorer sections away from these facilities.

Describing hospitals as modern temples, Jagan Mohan Reddy said that private players would exploit the poor, and public health would be at risk due to Chandrababu Naidu's decision.

"Of the 17 medical colleges, five were completed in our term and classes began in Pulivendula and Paderu. Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has even issued a memo to stop the construction of the medical colleges with the intention of privatising them," he added.

The former Chief Minister said that the total medical seats would have gone up to 4,910, with 2,360 of them available free of cost to poor students and the rest at much lower fees than private colleges, ensuring crores of families could access affordable medical education and free healthcare.

Jagan Mohan Reddy said that Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu is ready to spend Rs 2 lakh crore on Amaravati but lacks the will to spend Rs 500 crore on each medical college for public health.

"This shows where his (Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu's) priorities are. With the lack of proper medical facilities, patients have to go to King George Hospital in Visakhapatnam. The recent incident at the Kurupam hostel, where tribal students fell ill due to contaminated water, also shows the utter neglect of the government," he added.

Detailing the protest programme, Jagan Mohan Reddy said that Rachabanda outreach programmes would be held from October 10 to November 22, where the neglect and failures of Chandrababu Naidu would be highlighted and one crore signatures would be collected.

There would be dharnas at constituency and district headquarters on October 28 and November 12, he added.

The signatures would reach Vijayawada by November 23, and the representation would then be given to the Governor S. Abdul Nazeer.

He said that signature papers would move from constituencies to district centres on November 23 and from districts to Vijayawada in lorries on November 24 before being submitted to the Governor.

Meanwhile, at the YSRCP Central office in Amaravati, the one crore signature campaign poster was unveiled by YSRCP State Coordinator Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy.

He said that the campaign will continue for more than 45 days, starting with the Rachabanda programme in all 175 constituencies on Friday, where posters will be released simultaneously.

As part of the agitation plan, huge constituency-level rallies will be organised on October 28, followed by district-level rallies and memorandum submissions on November 12.

/IANS