For years, Mississippi has had trouble getting any of the state’s hospitals interested in providing long-term burn care.
Now, two of the state’s largest hospitals in Jackson appear to be fighting over which one takes on that role — and gets the state money that both are expecting to come with it.
According to the reporting from Mississippi Today, the jockeying began soon after Merit Health Center in Jackson announced it was closing down the state’s lone burn center last fall.
One of Merit’s burn care specialists moved over to Mississippi Baptist Medical Center, which then reportedly approached House Speaker Philip Gunn about the state providing seed money to fully equip the proposed burn center at the private, not-for-profit hospital. Gunn has authored a bill this session that would do just that, with $12 million in one-time money to acquire specialized equipment and create additional intensive care capacity.
Meanwhile, the University of Mississippi Medical Center, which couldn’t be talked into starting a burn center almost two decades ago, has announced it wants to do so now. Of course, it also expects taxpayer support to make this happen. Whether it’s good with onetime money, as Baptist is proposing, or wants recurring operational funding is unclear, according to Mississippi Today’s reporting.
Like Baptist, UMMC says it already has the expertise in place to immediately treat burn victims and does so on a regular basis. But it wants to take this care to a higher level and reduce the number of patients, including those who are severely burned, who have to go to other states to receive adequate care.
The Legislature now is faced with sorting out which institution is best suited to carry out this mission and to do it for the long haul.
It would seem to make the most sense for the state government to support a state-owned entity. But that is also assuming that UMMC can operate the proposed burn center with about the same amount of taxpayer support as Baptist is seeking. If there’s a significant difference, the Legislature would have to consider going with Baptist’s proposal instead.
The burn center in Greenville closed in 2005 because the hospital there could not operate it profitably. The same with Merit Health’s decision to close its burn center in Jackson.
It’s encouraging that two other Mississippi hospitals believe they can make a go of it. When burn victims have to go outside the state for treatment, it is hard not only on them but on their families.
Whatever is decided between Baptist and UMMC, it should be done in the best interest of those who suffer these excruciatingly painful injuries and the long and difficult road to recovery that comes afterward.
