A revamped ECU medical school would bring more doctors to NC, supporters say
A bipartisan group of North Carolina state lawmakers filed legislation Wednesday that, if passed, would fund renovations to the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University in Greenville.
The school is known for graduating physicians who choose to stay in Eastern North Carolina and continue practicing, and an upgrade to its facilities would mean ECU can graduate even more physicians every year, legislators said.
In turn, funding the school could give rural North Carolinians better access to health care.
“This is a huge step for North Carolina,” said Republican House Majority Leader John Bell, who is sponsoring the legislation with House Speaker Tim Moore. “This is the stepping stone to be able to put more health care providers in our state.”
Democratic Pitt County delegates Rep. Brian Farkas and Rep. Kandie Smith are also sponsors of the legislation, along with Sen. Jim Perry, a Republican from Kinston, and Sen. Don Davis, a Democrat from Greenville, who filed another bill in the Senate Wednesday.
“ECU and the Brody School of Medicine has been a beacon of hope in our community, and the future doctors educated there deserve the very best learning environment we can provide,” Smith said Wednesday in a joint press release with Davis and Farkas. “I am hopeful that HB 9 will finally be the key to delivering this long overdue, highly anticipated project to our area.”
Similar versions of the bill have been filed in previous legislative sessions, including In 2019, when funding for renovation and improvements to the school was included in the proposed budget. Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed that bill over unrelated objections and other attempts to fund the school in separate legislation failed.
Three separate bills — two in the House, one in the Senate — filed this year would allocate a total of $28 million over two years. The first batch of funding, $15 million, would come in the 2021-2022 fiscal year, slated to fund the planning of a new school. An additional $13 million would be allocated the following year for construction.
Bell said Wednesday that funding for the school could be included in a different bill, like the budget, later in this year’s legislative session.
