Groundbreaking for the Gautier facility occurred Jan. 25. The $25 million facility will be built on property owned by local physicians Sati Adlakha, DO, and Ed Tasan, MD.
The medical complex will feature a cardiac surgery center, vascular surgery center, endoscopy suite, a 25,000-square-foot medical office space for primary care and specialties, plus a building for Deaconess, a national home health agency operating in South Mississippi.
Dr. Adlakha and Dr. Tasan specialize in interventional cardiology and have practice privileges at Singing River Health System and other hospitals in South Mississippi, as do the other doctors who will work at the new medical center, according to the report.
Last year, the physicians applied for and were granted a certificate of need from the state health department to build the cardiac care center with four catheterization labs, but Singing River Health System is appealing the decision to issue the certificate of need.
Mississippi requires new ASCs to partner with a hospital. Dr. Adlakha first asked Singing River to partner on the new facility, but when they rejected, they partnered with Memorial Hospital in Gulfport, Miss.
The two health systems have already been in competition for patients, clinics and physicians.
Jackson County Supervisor Ken Taylor said nothing has changed since the county and hospital wrote a letter last spring objecting to the new medical facility in Gautier.
