Article Photos

Advertisement

WINTERSVILLE - As the House of Representatives spent the day Saturday debating government's role in health care, a $30 million investment by 48 area doctors - without any government money or tax breaks - was celebrated in the grand opening of Life Line Hospital.

The new hospital, off Fernwood Road at 200 School St., features 32 long-term acute care inpatient beds as well as a host of high-tech medicine for inpatients and outpatients, including a state-of-the-art MRI, PET scanner and a 64-slice CT scanner.

Dr. Satbir Singh, representing the physicians, recalled how his parents came to the United States twice, before staying, each time with just $8 in their pockets.

"I attended elementary school at the top of the hill," he said, referring to the old Wintersville elementary school building at the top of School Street. "It is a great pleasure to be able to give back to the community that opened its arms to me."

Singh emphasized that the group wanted to be sure its investment stayed local, using local contractors, union tradesmen and suppliers, led by JD&E Contractors and Engineers of Wheeling. The physicians had emphasized throughout the two-year constrution of the hospital that it represented a commitment to give back to the communities in which they earn their living.

"There were no tax abatements, and no further hardship comes to Wintersville from this facility, which will be a benefit to the tax base," Singh emphasized.

He thanked many people, including the leadership of Dr. Amar Khurana for working on the project day and night; Dr. Joe Lewis for leading during construction; and First Choice America Community Federal Credit Union and Dollar Bank for extending credit to the project when larger institutions weren't interested in loans during the tight economy.

Life Line has 75 employees now with plans to grow to 125 as services ramp up. The hospital officially begins treating patients in December, officials said.

Singh said there were two goals: Bring the best patient care possible ("And you can see no expense was spared," he said), and to work with the local community for goods, services and supplies and hiring.

Village Mayor Bob Gale said the investment by the doctors "will become one of Wintersville's greatest assets."

He said the hospital has worked hard to meet the needs of the village and the facility's neighbors.

U.S. Rep. Charlie Wilson, D-St. Clairsville, was unable to provide the keynote address because of the health care votes in Washington on Saturday, but staffer Chris Gagin said, "The people here do not just want to see the valley survive, they want to see it thrive." He said people in the area "don't want bailouts, they wand to build up."

The physicians who have invested in Life Line include Drs. Kamlesh Aggarwal; Stephan Alatis; Rupinder Arora; Gulam Aziz; Dharam Batish; Ranjan Bhandari; Clement Cahall; Charles Capito; John Capito; Theodore Chrobak; Prabhjot Deol; Paul DiBiase; Sanjay Gupta; Tod Hagins; Gary Hanson; Mumtaz Husain; Abdullah Kalla; Amar Khurana; Brijinder Kochhar; Krzytof Kubicki; John Kuruc; Joseph Lewis; Samuel Licata; Patrick Macedonia; Jasbir Makar; Sudhir Malik; Stanley Mannino; Nicholas Mastros; Charn Nandra; Rekha Parkular; Amandeep Purewal; Gurdev Purewal; Pervaiz Rahman; Vardhan Reddy; George Roig; Patrick Rosario; Saieed Saieed; Edgar Sanchez; Rafael Schmulevich; Atul Shah; Atul Shetty; Shaban Shoshi; Sarjit Singh; Shalu Singh; Vincent Stonebraker; Sherry Thomas; and Jeffrey Wilps.

(Giannamore can be contacted at pgiannamore@heraldstaronline.com.)