VIDEO: Baptist Memorial Health Care Makes Its Pitch to Oktibbeha County Residents

OKTIBBEHA COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI)- In less than two weeks residents in Oktibbeha County will be heading to the polls to vote on the future of the OCH Regional Medical Center.

On Thursday, those residents had the chance to hear from one of the healthcare organizations bidding on the county owned hospital.

Baptist Memorial Health Care gave a presentation on why they’d be the best candidate to partner with OCH if it were to be sold.

CEO Jason Little said the company prides itself on growing its hospitals and healthcare services for the people it serves.

However, some residents have mixed viewpoints about BMH partnering with OCH.

“If you were to go to places like Oxford, or Southaven, or Columbus and look at that hospital before Baptist arrived as a partner and then after, we are very proud of our track record of growth and our ability to care for the community. Our sole mission is to go partner with communities and build those hospitals to be everything that the communities can support,” said Little.

“I’d hate to see the hospital sale for pennies on the dollar of what it’s really worth, especially when we are in a very good financial situation, and we are on the path to grow as we are and looking to affiliate with those partners that we can use but still stay in control of our own destiny,” said Dr. harry Holliday, chief of medical staff at OCH.

Voters will head to the polls to vote on the matter on November 7th.