The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control on Jan. 7 approved a proposal from two Orangeburg, S.C., physicians to build a $12.5 million ASC, The Times and Democrat reported.
General surgeon Dion Franga, MD, and radiologist Amit Sanghi, DO, received approval to construct an ASC with two operating rooms in Orangeburg. The center will offer ophthalmology, gastroenterology, orthopedics, urology, ENT, radiology and general surgery. The pair anticipates breaking ground on the ASC in 2021, with a potential late 2022 or early 2023 opening.
Orangeburg-based Regional Medical Center plans to appeal the department's decision to the state's Administrative Law Court.
Regional Medical Center had a competing application to turn its dialysis center into a surgery center. The health system submitted its certificate of need application a week later.
Regional Medical Center believes the physicians' surgery center will have a $7.4 million annual effect on its operations.