Over the last several years, Karnataka government has repeatedly announced that they intend to hand over district public hospitals to private establishments, under the guise of setting up medical colleges in Public-private partnership (PPP) mode. In 2022, the previous state government had proposed PPP-based privatisation of nine district hospitals. This was met with widespread protests and opposition from people in these districts, following which the decision was withdrawn. However the current state government is now proposing PPPs to privatise district hospitals in eleven districts – Tumakuru, Davanagere, Chitradurga, Bagalkote, Kolar, Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Bengaluru Rural, Vijayapura, Vijayanagara, and Ramanagaram. This is being opposed by a broad-based popular campaign led by Sarvatrika Arogya Andolana Karnataka (Movement for Universal Health Systems in Karnataka, SAAK).