Changes are coming to Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle.
The Mississippi Department of Health has approved the Columbus hospital’s plan to enlarge one operating room and replace two smaller operating rooms with larger ones. The plan also calls for relocating the hospital’s inpatient pharmacy, according to hospital officials.
The entire project has a $8.9 million price tag.
Mississippi requires a certificate in a process designed to avoid duplication of health care services and control costs. The state Department of Health did not approve the hospital’s request to add two new surgical suites, according to a press release from the state.
Work is slated to begin at the hospital along North Fifth Street early next year.
“We are grateful to the state for allowing this project to proceed,” administrator Paul Cade said in a release. “The larger operating rooms will help us better accommodate the equipment and personnel used to perform advanced surgical procedures.”
The three larger operating rooms are needed for equipment such as the de Vinci SI Robot and the special table used for spine surgery, according to assistant administrator Bill Lancaster.
The hospital has 10 operating rooms. That number will not change with the renovations, according to hospital officials.
The work will be completed in phases. The first phase will involve moving the hospital’s pharmacy, which is now adjacent to the surgery suites on the second floor. It will be moved to the first floor of the Patient Tower, according to hospital officials.
The move from the second floor will make room for the larger operating rooms.
The project will not lead to any new jobs, according to the hospital.
Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle employs roughly 1,000 people and has 315 inpatient beds. The hospital is part of the Memphis-based Baptist system, which also includes Mississippi hospitals in Booneville, New Albany, Oxford and Southaven.
William Browning was managing editor for The Dispatch until June 2016.
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