No buyer found yet for Panola Medical Center
Published 4:18 pm Tuesday, October 23, 2018
The company that owns Panola Medical Center continues to try to find a buyer after filing for bankruptcy, but issued a warning Monday that is may close the Clarksdale hospital before new owners for its three North Mississippi facilities can be found.
Curea Health of Knoxville owns the hospitals in Batesville, Amory, and Clarksdale. At the time of the bankruptcy filing almost two months ago, company officials said they were confidant a buyer could be found before hospital closures would be considered.
Last week they announced the Clarksdale facility is losing so much money it could pull the bankrupt company before new owners could be brought on board.
Workers at Northwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center in Clarksdale got letters Friday warning of possible closure in December, at the cost of 484 jobs. Coahoma County leases the hospital to Curae and could take it over.
Curae has preliminarily agreed to sell Amory’s Gilmore Memorial Hospital to Tupelo-based North Mississippi Health Services for $15 million.
Curae hasn’t disclosed sale plans for Panola Medical Center in Batesville. Panola County County officials continue to maintain Batesville can support a viable full service hospital, and that better management with less assumed debt at the time of purchase would offer potential investors a better overall deal that would make the local hospital profitable again.