The University of South Alabama’s health system opened the Baldwin County Surgery Center in Fairhope Tuesday, on the Mapp Family Campus.

“This much-needed facility will improve access to exceptional healthcare, and it will bring our specialists closer to the people of Baldwin County,” Owen Bailey, CEO of USA Health, said. “We remain thankful to the Mapp family for their generosity and vision for expanding academic healthcare from Mobile to Baldwin County and beyond.”

The 24,000-square foot ambulatory surgery center will feature six operating rooms and two procedure rooms. Surgeons in pediatrics, orthopedics, urology, general surgery and other specialties will operate at the center, according to a news release. According to USA Health, about half of Baldwin County’s population lives within 15 miles of the Mapp Center.

“We are proud of the partnerships our academic health system has established with community physicians on the Eastern Shore,” John Marymont, vice president for medical affairs and dean of the Whiddon College of Medicine, said in a news release. “This new surgery center is an example of how our successful collaborations expand access to healthcare and benefit those who live and work in Baldwin County and surrounding areas.”

The surgery center was controversial when it was first proposed. Infirmary Health, which operates Thomas Hospital about four miles from the campus, opposed the plan.  An administrative law judge ruled that USA Health had not sufficiently demonstrated the need for an ambulatory surgery center, but the Alabama Certificate of Need Review Board unanimously approved the project in 2021, overturning that ruling.