Education, health account for 50% of budget: Balineni Srinivasa Reddy
Minister Balineni Srinivasa Reddy, District Collector Pravin Kumar and others inaugurating the auditorium at RIMS Ongole on Thursday
Ongole: Minister for Energy, Environment, Forests, Science and Technology Balineni Srinivasa Reddy stated that no other State is being developed like Andhra Pradesh and announced that the State government is spending nearly 50 per cent of the budget on education, medical and health by giving priority to the infrastructure.
On Thursday, the Minister inaugurated new auditorium built with Rs 6 crore in Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences in Ongole and a 100-bed facility portable Covid Care Unit built at the Government General Hospital in Ongole with the funds from the Government of India, American Indian Foundation and Master Card.
Speaking at the meeting, Minister Srinivasa Reddy said that the government is spending thousands of crores of rupees on the development of education, medical and health fields in the State. He expressed happiness over the construction of a modern auditorium and announced that Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy had released Rs 170 crore for the construction of a multi-super speciality hospital in GGH Ongole.
He said that the Chief Minister focussing special interest in developing the hospital that was inaugurated by his father, late Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, and is already equipped with the latest CT Scan and MRI Scan machines. The Minister announced that the government was committed to providing better treatment to the patients, though the number of COVID cases increased exponentially in the third wave.
District Collector Pravin Kumar said the government has sanctioned one of the two portable Covid Care Units allocated for the State to construct at GGH Ongole. He said that 65 patients are receiving treatment in the 100-bed facility that was built with modern equipment. He informed that they have already provided ICU beds and oxygen in the GGH for the treatment of the Covid patients during the third wave. He shared a few suggestions on the regular maintenance of the 650-seat capacity auditorium.
Ongole Mayor Gangada Sujatha, MLC Thumati Madhavarao, JC K Krishnaveni, Arya Vysya Corporation chairman Kuppam Prasad, GGH Superintendent Dr Diguvinti Sriramulu, Deputy Superintendent Muralikrishna Reddy and others also participated in the programme.