Author: Kameshwar Rao and Abhay Shukla

Over the past decade, India has witnessed an accelerating trend of handing over vital public health assets—especially government medical colleges and hospitals—to private operators. Among the most blatant such moves is the recent decision by the Andhra Pradesh (AP) government to privatise medical education and tertiary healthcare by transferring long-term control of ten new medical colleges to corporate entities. However this retrograde decision is now facing powerful resistance from an emerging grassroots movement across AP, with implications that extend well beyond the state.