Between 2022 and 2024, 24 new medical colleges were established in the state; however, the rapid expansion has come at the cost of quality.
Published Jul 05, 2025 | 7:00 AM ⚊ Updated Jul 18, 2025 | 11:22 AM
Synopsis: Telangana’s newly established government medical colleges, built in rapid succession since 2022, are woefully under equipped to serve the students they enrol. A recent student survey across 12 such institutions revealed alarming deficits in transport, faculty, laboratories, hostels, and even basic amenities such as drinking water, power supply, and internet facilities.
On their way back to the hostel on 20 June, several students of Government Medical College Bhadradri Kothagudem in Telangana met with a serious road accident, suffering broken bones, torn muscles and head injuries.
The college, hospital and hostel are located five kilometres apart, and doesn’t provide a safe and reliable transport solution, forcing many students to rely on overcrowded and unsafe autos.
Yet, not a single official from the hostel or college visited the injured girls in the emergency ward. No words of concern. No sense of accountability.
The incident represents a broader systemic problem affecting not just Government Medical College Bhadradri Kothagudem, but almost all of the 24 government medical colleges established since 2022 in Telangana.
A recently-conducted survey of students across 12 medical colleges established between 2022 and 2024 in Telangana revealed alarming infrastructure deficiencies.
It covered institutions admitting over 1,300 students annually and showed a troubling pattern of hasty establishment without adequate preparation, leaving students struggling with substandard facilities and compromised learning environments.
Between 2022 and 2024, 24 new medical colleges were established in the state; however, the survey suggests this rapid expansion has come at the cost of quality.
Transportation is among the most critical and dangerous problem across these institutions.
At GMC Bhadradri Kothagudem, students had submitted multiple representations and written complaints to the principal over the past two years regarding transport issues, but no action was taken.
The principal reportedly warned students not to approach him on the matter again and even threatened the complete removal of existing bus facilities.
The transportation crisis is not confined to a particular batch or year – it extends across all establishment years.
A student said, “At GMC Bhadradri Kothagudem, a private contractor has been assigned to run buses and is charging a hefty fee of ₹20,000 per head, with no transparency.”
When students opt out of the service, their share is redistributed among the remaining students, further increasing the financial burden.
Despite repeated complaints, the college principal has refused to address the issue, instructing students not to bring up transportation concerns again.
Similar exploitative arrangements exist at GMC Mahabubabad (2022), where “a private contractor has been assigned to run buses and is charging a hefty fee.”
The college administration has discouraged students from raising transportation issues. At GMC Mancherial, students face daily transport difficulties while also dealing with mess-related issues, with many skipping breakfast in order to reach hospital postings by 9 am.
GMC Karimnagar operates with only one bus serving 160 students across two batches, while GMC Rajanna Siricilla forces students to spend ₹80 daily on transport. At SIMS Ramagundam, just two buses are available for 300 students, leaving many without adequate transport to hospital postings.
The survey highlighted significant logistical challenges that are disrupting daily academic activities. In most colleges, hostels are located outside campus premises, with distances ranging from 2 to 12 kilometres between accommodation, college buildings, and teaching hospitals. Despite these distances, many institutions do not provide any transportation services.
At Government Medical College Mahabubabad, students face a particularly challenging situation – hostels are located 7 to 10 kilometres from the college, with no transportation provided between facilities. Students report spending substantial amounts on their daily commute, further adding to the financial strain of medical education.
The Telangana Junior Doctors Association (T-JUDA) noted that this “stands in stark contrast to other government medical colleges across Telangana, where free and safe transport is provided by the administration for students, especially those staying in hostels.”
Critical faculty shortages severely impact educational quality across all batches of these institutions.
At GMC Bhadradri Kothagudem (2022), “the Anatomy Department currently has no MBBS-qualified doctors, including the absence of a HoD, Professors, or Associate Professors. The entire department is being handled by a single MSc Anatomy faculty member,” said the students.
The Biochemistry Department has only one MD Assistant Professor, with similar staffing patterns in the Physiology, Pharmacology, and Microbiology departments.
Students from GMC Mahabubabad stated that “several departments are suffering from a lack of qualified teaching faculty, which compromises the quality of medical education and violates the minimum standards mandated by regulatory bodies.”
The survey findings reveal a severe faculty shortage crisis across these institutions. Basic science departments, which are crucial for foundational medical education, are operating with skeleton staff.
In Biochemistry departments, 71 percent of the surveyed colleges reported having no professors, while Microbiology departments face an 81 percent professor vacancy rate.
At Government Medical College Bhupalpally, established in 2023, the principal has reportedly been unresponsive to staff allocation requests, leaving multiple subjects without dedicated faculty.
At GMC Narayanpet, the Anatomy Department has only one Head of Department, with no assigned Associate or other Professors. GMC Bhupalpally reports no faculty in the Pharmacology Department for three months, while GMC Rajanna Siricilla’s entire Microbiology Department is managed by a single Associate Professor.
Laboratory facilities across these colleges are woefully inadequate, regardless of establishment year.
As a student stated at SIMS Ramagundam, “there is no appropriate and sufficient practical equipment required for the students of 2022, 2023 and 2024 batch students.”
Students at GMC Mancherial said that “the lab equipment is insufficient for all the students to perform adequately,” with groups of students falling behind due to this deficiency.
At GMC Bhupalpally, there are no labs for current subjects, and practical classes reportedly cover less than 50 percent of the National Medical Commission’s requirements. At GMC Asifabad, students stated that when four chemicals are required for tests, only two are available – with basic equipment such as colorimeters missing entirely.
Essential laboratory facilities required for medical education are conspicuously absent across these institutions.
The survey found that pathology, microbiology, and pharmacology laboratories are missing in multiple colleges, severely hampering hands-on learning opportunities.
Government Medical College Sangareddy, despite being established in 2022, still lacks these critical laboratory facilities. Similarly, Government Medical College Quthbullapur, the newest institution established in 2024, operates with virtually no laboratory equipment, forcing students to rely entirely on theoretical instruction.
GMC Sangareddy operates with “only two lecture halls being shared among three MBBS batches and two nursing batches,” with the situation becoming unmanageable as new batches arrive. GMC Mahabubabad has “only two classrooms currently functional, forcing students to follow alternate batch timings.”
Not only the academic blocks, but also accommodation issues plague every institution across all establishment years.
GMC Bhadradri Kothagudem students reported that “no permanent hostel buildings [are] available to accommodate students,” with students “crammed into rented residential flats, with 10–15 students sharing a single flat.”
Due to unhygienic and cramped conditions, several students have vacated hostels.
GMC Mahabubabad faces similar issues, where “the lack of dedicated hostel buildings has forced students into overcrowded and unhygienic rental accommodations.”
GMC Jagtial students reside “in temporary accommodations that are not designed to be hostels,” creating unstable and uncomfortable living environments.
Students also revealed shocking accommodation conditions that would be unacceptable in any educational institution.
At Government Medical College Wanaparthy, established in 2022, students are cramped 12 to a room in hostels located 12 kilometres from the college campus. The facility lacks basic amenities, with no washrooms available for students in the teaching hospital and no designated seating areas.
GMC Bhupalpally has no official hostel, with students living in temporary government quarters without proper mess facilities, drinking water, or fire extinguishers.
GMC Jangaon girls are housed in a nearby old age home, while boys stay 10 to a room.
At SIMS Ramagundam, hostels lack daily sanitation, have no study tables in rooms, and face persistent network issues, prompting students to request WiFi installation.
Fundamental facilities like drinking water, power backup, and safety measures are missing across all institutions.
GMC Sangareddy students said that “only one functional water tap [is] currently available for over 450 students, which is highly insufficient.” A SIMS Ramagundam student said that “sufficient drinking water is not provided by the college especially during summer for all the batches.”
GMC Mancherial faces electricity issues including “short circuits and fuse problems,” while students struggle with “adverse climate conditions” due to the absence of proper air conditioning.
GMC Medak reports no security guards at campus gates, creating serious safety risks.
Construction and infrastructure development lag significantly across these institutions. A GMC Mahabubabad student reported that “in the past three years, there has been no visible progress in the construction of permanent college buildings or hostels,” even as other newly established medical colleges have completed or are nearing completion of their campuses.
GMC Jagtial faces “the absence of a dedicated college campus” as a primary obstacle to education, lacking fundamental facilities like a library, laboratories, and auditoriums.
The affiliated teaching hospitals, meant to provide practical clinical exposure, are themselves struggling with infrastructure deficits.
Students also reported that hospitals with bed capacities ranging from just 100 to 650 beds often remain unoccupied due to infrastructure constraints.
Government Medical College Vikarabad operates with a teaching hospital that lacks basic amenities, including air conditioning and proper drinking water facilities. Students attending clinical rotations face additional hardships due to the 10-kilometre distance between the hospital and the campus.
In an era where medical education increasingly relies on digital resources, these institutions lag significantly behind.
The survey found that 57 percent of colleges lack adequate internet connectivity, 71 percent of hospitals have no WiFi access, and library facilities are either unavailable or operate with restricted hours.
Students have adapted by increasingly relying on artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT for studies, with 71 percent reporting regular usage. However, this trend reflects the inadequacy of traditional teaching resources rather than any progressive educational shift.
Sports and recreational infrastructure is universally absent. SIMS Ramagundam reports “no proper playground or a badminton court or a cricket court,” with the recently installed gym requiring monthly fees, despite such facilities being free in other government colleges.
GMC Jagtial has a “complete absence of sports facilities and equipment,” affecting students’ physical and mental well-being. GMC Sangareddy students noted that “though a playground was promised at the time of admission, there has been no progress or official update on its development.”
Administrative indifference and hostility toward students raising legitimate concerns is systematic across these institutions.
At GMC Rajanna Siricilla, students requesting facilities face aggressive responses, with the administration “shouting at us and saying we don’t have any kind of these facilities during our days and finally won’t give any permission.”
Students who voice concerns are often targeted, with some faculty stating, “Your academics are in our hands.”
At SIMS Ramagundam, “opinion of students is never taken into consideration regarding mess by the administration,” while mess payments are demanded in advance despite below-average food quality.
Government Medical College Nirmal, established in 2023, presents perhaps the most concerning case. According to the survey, the institution has received no funding since its establishment, resulting in what students describe as a “very bad, drastic, foul” environment with poor sanitation throughout the campus.
Anonymous feedback from students across these institutions paints a concerning picture. Common complaints include “worst” hostel food quality, sanitation issues, lack of proper college buildings, and inadequate faculty support.
Many students report feeling abandoned by institutional leadership, with some noting that college principals remain unresponsive to their concerns.
The data indicates that the government’s ambitious medical education expansion programme, while aimed at addressing the shortage of doctors, has created a new problem: institutions that exist on paper but lack the fundamental infrastructure to provide quality medical education.
Responding to the crisis, Health Minister C Damodar Narsimha blamed the previous government for the current state of medical colleges, stating:
“Setting up a medical college is not just about issuing government orders on paper. The college needs a building, a hospital in line with the MBBS seats, faculty, infrastructure in the hospital and college, hostels for students… Only when all these facilities are provided in every way can a college be considered established.”
The minister accused the previous administration of showing “castles in the air and colleges on paper, making medical education substandard” and pushing “the future of medical students into jeopardy” without proper planning, faculty appointments, building construction, or basic infrastructure.
“We are putting the government education and medical system, which you destroyed, back on track. In one and a half years, we have filled over 8,000 jobs in the health department,” the minister claimed, adding that the government is “bringing buildings for every college and hospital into operation” and “appointing faculty.”
మెడికల్ కాలేజీ ఏర్పాటు చేయడమంటే పేపర్ల మీద జీవోలు ఇచ్చుడు కాదు. కాలేజీకి బిల్డింగుండాలె,
ఎంబీబీఎస్ సీట్లకు అనుగుణంగా హాస్పిటల్ ఉండాలె,
ఫాకల్టీ ఉండాలె, హాస్పిటల్లో,
కాలేజీలో ఇన్ఫ్రాస్ట్రక్చర్ ఉండాలె,
విద్యార్థులకు హాస్టల్స్ ఉండాలె..
ఇలా అన్ని విధాలుగా సౌకర్యాలు కల్పిస్తేనే…— Damodar Raja Narasimha (@DamodarCilarapu) June 16, 2025
The state Health Department has set up Medical College Monitoring Committees (MCMCs) to address infrastructure and staffing shortcomings in government medical colleges.
Health Secretary Christina Z Chongthu issued an order on 19 June announcing the formation of the MCMCs. These committees have been tasked with ensuring that all government medical colleges meet NMC benchmarks by June 2028.
A total of 10 MCMCs have been constituted with responsibilities including inspecting and assessing medical colleges and submitting review reports.
District collectors will play a key role, overseeing aspects such as recruitment and monitoring of contractual and outsourced staff via the District Level Selection Committee (DLSC), evaluation of service providers such as IHFMS and diet services, patient footfall including Aarogyasri services, and the use of Facility Management Services (FMS) and the electronic Health Management Information System (eHMIS).
The committees are also expected to review coordination for cadaver availability, shuttle bus services, and utilisation of Hospital Development Society (HDS) funds.
Each of the 34 government medical colleges will be assessed based on six parameters: infrastructure, human resources, academic and curriculum readiness, student welfare and amenities, operational and financial aspects, and digital systems and IT infrastructure.
Infrastructure review will cover the adequacy and functionality of academic buildings, lecture halls, laboratories, libraries, and hostels. Hospital infrastructure will be assessed for bed strength, space requirements, medical equipment (such as C-Arm, CT, MRI), maintenance agreements (CAMC/AMC), emergency services, and utilities including power backup, fire safety, water supply, sanitation, and biomedical waste management.
For human resources, the availability of teaching and non-teaching staff will be assessed against sanctioned posts. Recruitment needs through the Medical and Health Services Recruitment Board (MHSRB), Telangana Public Service Commission (TGPSC), and contract-based appointments via district-level committees will be documented.
The committees will also examine the implementation of the NMC curriculum, use of simulation facilities, clinical rotations, academic scheduling, and library resources to assess academic readiness.
Student welfare parameters include hostel conditions, cleanliness, safety, mess facilities, anti-ragging measures, counselling services, and grievance redressal systems.
The review of digital systems will cover the functioning of eHMIS, Facial Recognition Systems, biometric attendance, CCTV surveillance, and internet connectivity for academic and clinical use.
