Telangana’s ambitious push to expand medical education saw the opening of nine new medical colleges this academic year. However, many campuses are still under construction, with students starting classes as walls and facilities are still being completed. Officials assure improvements will follow soon, prioritizing education amid the infrastructure race.
Construction of the medical colleges is not completed, but students have been admitted despite the shortfall in facilities.
Dr Shirisha sat in front of her laptop at precisely 10.56 am on Tuesday, 29 October, at the newly opened Government Medical College in Pagidipally village, Bhongir mandal, Yadadri-Bhuvanagiri district.
“Only three students have joined the meeting so far,” she noted to the college staff gathered in the principal’s office, “but we still have four minutes to go.”
She was about to lead the orientation class for newly admitted MBBS students on Personality Development, conducted over Zoom.
When the clock struck 11.00 am, she asked, “Shall we start?”
The students responded with an eager “Yes,” prompting her first question, “What is personality?”
Government Medical College Yadadri-Bhuvanagiri is one of eight new medical colleges in Telangana permitted to launch the MBBS programme this year.
“We received approval for 50 MBBS seats after our faculty and infrastructure were evaluated by the National Medical Council,” said Dr K Ramesh Reddy, the college principal, in a conversation with #Khabarlive.
“For this first batch, only three subjects need to be taught initially: Anatomy, Physiology, and Biochemistry. So the college requires only pre-clinical faculty for now,” Dr Reddy explained. “However, according to NMC norms, we currently have 81 faculty members, covering not just pre-clinical subjects but clinical ones as well.”
“As for infrastructure, the government has taken a familiar route, adapting existing resources as we build our foundation,” the principal explained.
The infrastructure
At 8.30 am, the Government Medical College of Yadadri Bhuvanagiri stands quiet. The gates are locked; there are no security guards in sight; not a single person nearby.
“It’ll open around 10 am. The security staff will unlock it then,” a passerby remarks casually.
Situated on roughly 20 acres of private land which the government has taken on rent, the college building is a large, circular, four-storey structure. Originally, when the district was carved out of Nalgonda in 2016, this building served as the District Collector’s Office.
By 2020, it became a temporary campus for the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bibinagar. However, AIIMS moved to its permanent campus just six kilometres away, leaving the premises available for repurposing.
The Telangana government, instead of constructing a new building, repurposed it to launch its medical college.
Inside, the atrium-style layout gives the building a spacious feel. Standing on the ground floor, one can look up and see all levels up to the third floor, where the student hostels are located — an arrangement that diverges from National Medical Commission (NMC) guidelines recommending separate premises for hostels.
To offer an MBBS programme, the NMC mandates specific infrastructure standards to ensure quality education and training.
According to NMC guidelines, colleges require an attached hospital with at least 200 beds, maintaining a minimum 75 percent occupancy rate year-round.
However, the attached District Hospital in Bhongir, about five kilometres from the college, currently holds only 100 beds.
“Since students are only starting pre-medical classes, we’re constructing an additional floor to raise capacity to 250 beds,” said Dr Ramesh Reddy.
Functional departments such as Biochemistry, Pathology, Microbiology, and Radio-Diagnosis are required by NMC regulations.
The college has established the primary departments, but the rooms remain empty, awaiting the full set-up. At the hospital, rooms allocated for department heads and professors are likewise vacant. Troublingly, these rooms are reportedly being used by night-shift nurses for rest.
When asked about the permanent college building, the principal said that is a matter to be decided in the future.
This repurposed structure represents a resourceful adaptation of NMC requirements; it also underscores the gap between the ideal and the actual.
Cement bags instead of desks
On the outskirts of Secunderabad, just a hundred meters from the District Court of Medchal Malkajgiri, a newly established government medical college has recently launched its MBBS course.
However, construction is still ongoing. Labourers are at work, and cement bags are stacked in rooms on the ground floor.
Three rooms — the principal’s office, an administrative office, and the anatomy department — are the only spaces ready for use.
“We are holding orientation classes for now. Once the festival season is over, we will begin regular sessions,” Principal Dr V Murli Krishna told Khabarlive. as he signed various bills related to the construction work.
Most of the students hail from Telangana, with seven joining from other states.
“Since admissions recently concluded and with the festival season here, we decided to begin regular classes afterwards,” Dr Krishna said.
As construction progresses, laborers have hung out their underwear to dry on the third floor – there is as yet nothing to indicate that the space will serve as a student hostel.
“We conducted counselling at the Area Hospital in Malkajgiri, and hopefully, we will set up classrooms and basic facilities before the students arrive,” an administrative staff member commented.
According to Dr Krishna, faculty and essential equipment have all been arranged by the government.
As regular classes begin, MBBS students will be adjusting not only to the demands of medical education but also to navigating an evolving campus.
New medical colleges in every district
Dr K Ramesh Reddy previously served as Telangana’s longest-tenured Director of Medical Education (DME).
During his seven-year tenure, Telangana witnessed an unprecedented expansion in medical education, with new colleges established in every district.
Following his DME role, Dr Reddy served as principal of Gandhi Medical College, one of the state’s oldest and most esteemed institutions.
Now, the government has entrusted him with leading the newly established Yadadri-Bhuvanagiri Medical College.
“There may be a perception that new medical colleges are not of high quality, but here, our systems are modern, and our faculty members come from top institutions like Osmania Medical College and Gandhi Medical College,” Dr Reddy said with confidence. “I am certain these students will receive an education that rivals any other institution.”
Dr Reddy highlighted a recent guideline requiring students to adopt families in nearby villages, allowing them direct patient interactions from their first year.
“These students will engage first-hand with rural patients, who represent 70 percent of India’s population. This experience will be invaluable — not only for training them in clinical skills but also in communication. Learning to connect with patients on a human level is vital, and by the time they graduate, these students will be exceptional doctors,” he said.
Dr Reddy also noted that AIIMS Bibinagar, a prestigious national medical institution, initially began operations on this very campus with just 50 seats.
“In the same way, Yadadri-Bhuvanagiri Medical College is starting on a solid foundation and will soon stand as a competitive institution on par with the best in the country,” he said.
On 10 September, Telangana health minister C Damodar Raja Narasimha announced that permission had been granted by NMC for an additional eight government medical colleges in the state – there are now 34 government medical colleges in Telangana, with total number of MBBS seats in government colleges now at 4,090. #hydkhabar
About The Author
