A loan forgiveness program for medical students who pursue a career as a primary care physician or dentist in Connecticut is among the many initiatives part of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s sweeping new jobs initiative at the UConn Health Center, that he says will help Connecticut become a leader in the bioscience industry.
Malloy unveiled the details of the nearly $900 million plan at a news conference Tuesday.
The plan includes the construction of a $318 million tower to treat patients. The current tower would be renovated for $163 million and used for research.
The expansion proposal would help expand the school’s medical and dental programs as well as help the state become a leader in bioscience. The plan includes adding 100 students to the medical school, 48 students to the dental school and creating 3,000 construction jobs.
Malloy said long-term, his proposal will create 16,400 jobs by 2037.
“This proposal represents a new way of thinking about the UConn Health Center and the way in which it can be leveraged to create new jobs now and sustain economic growth and public health innovation down the road,” Malloy said. “It’s not just a medical and dental school or just a hospital – we have to think about the campus in its entirety and its potential to help Connecticut become a leader in a bioscience economy.”
The creation of a University of Connecticut Health Network, which would create a partnership between major players in the state’s health care industry, is also part of the plan, but full details on what that would entail were not yet available.
In terms of financing the project $254 million would come from new bonding, $203 million in private financing, and $338 million in previously approved bonding.
Malloy said the private funding would come in part from fundraising efforts.
About $300 million in state bonding has already been set aside.
Fred Carstensen, director of the Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis, said Malloy’s proposal is self financing and the investment made by the state would eventually pay for itself. He said Connecticut has gone without net job growth for about 27 years, and Malloy’s proposal could change that.
“We are actually going to do something to change the trajectory of the state’s economy,” Carstensen said.
For years, lawmakers have debated ways to overhaul the UConn Health Center complex, including the 35-year-old John Dempsey Hospital, and help put the center on firmer financial footing, boost the reputation of the UConn medical and dental schools and create thousands of jobs.
Last year, Gov. M. Jodi Rell unveiled plans for a new $352 million patient tower and renovated academic and research facility at John Dempsey as well as the creation of the University of Connecticut Health Network, which would establish a partnership between major players in the state’s health care industry.
But that plan fell through after the state failed to obtain $100 million in federal funding.
