Rep. Craig Eiland, D-Galveston, announced plans Thursday to completely restore the University of Texas Medical Branch.
Eiland’s plan would require the UT System, the Legislature and the federal government to fund the plan, which has not yet materialized into a bill. The plan, which would cost $837 million, would restore UTMB and the John Sealy Hospital in Galveston to their original conditions by taking the already provided $600 million in funds from the Federal Emergency Management Fund funds and requesting an additional $200 million from both the UT System and the state Legislature.
“We helped thousands of patients each year that otherwise would not have access to medical care and treatment,” said UTMB professor of pathology Judy Aronson. “UTMB Galveston was a vital part of the health care system in Texas, and the need for it is even clearer now than it was before [Hurricane] Ike.”
Following Hurricane Ike, the first floor of UTMB and the hospital suffered severe flood damage. The hospital and medical branch, which opened in 1891, supplied more than 500 beds for low-income patients and trained 650 medical and health professionals in 2008.
The plan would increase the total number of beds to 528. Eiland estimates that the project would be completed in less than five years.
Mike Gross, the vice president of the Texas State Employees Union, said the UT System Board of Regents presented an alternate plan last week that would partially restore the hospital but would eliminate more than 300 jobs and cut the number of hospital beds available before Hurricane Ike in half. Gross said this would cause the hospital to refuse medical care to thousands of low-income Texans because they would not be able to afford it.
“Rebuilding UTMB is an urgent part of rebuilding Galveston,” Gross said. “State Legislature, working together with local officials, could rebuild UTMB.”
UTMB doctors were present while Eiland discussed his plans on the south steps of the Capitol. Aronson, who has worked at the hospital for 18 years, spoke before the
crowd about how Eiland’s plan would personally benefit the community.
“Abandoning UTMB-Galveston would be a death blow to our community,” Aronson said. “As an island resident, I see our community struggling to recover every day. We need elected leaders in the Capitol to fight to make sure this happens, not just for Galveston but for the health of Texas.”
