$4.6-Million UCI Clinic Approved by Regents

A long-proposed campus clinic for UC Irvine’s College of Medicine won the approval Friday of the University of California Board of Regents.

The regents, meeting in Los Angeles, approved construction of a $4.6-million outpatient facility to be built next to the medical school on the Irvine campus. Officials said the 30,000-square-foot building is scheduled to open in early 1987.

The clinic will be administered separately from the off-campus UCI Medical Center, which is located in Orange. Kathy Jones, assistant vice chancellor for communications, noted that the clinic will treat only ambulatory patients and thus will not have bed space.

‘Always Been Proposed’

“The clinic has always been proposed for the College of Medicine,” Jones said. “At one time, of course, there was talk of having both the clinic and a hospital on campus.”

The proposal to build an on-campus hospital died in 1983, however, when UCI officials said they would no longer compete against proponents of an off-campus site. Earlier this year, American Medical International, a hospital chain, announced that it would build an $86-million off-campus medical center at the corner of Alton Parkway and Sand Canyon Road. The new hospital is scheduled to open in the summer of 1987.

While UCI officials gave up hope for an on-campus hospital, they had continued to push for an on-campus clinic to treat outpatients. Following the regents’ vote, Jones said: “The university is very pleased that the clinic has been approved.” She said the medical faculty at UCI has long needed more office space to treat outpatients.

The clinic will offer services in internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, family medicine, pediatrics, dermatology, general surgery, ophthalmology, cardiology, psychiatry, radiology, pathology and neurology, officials said.

Financed by Trust Fund

UCI’s two-story facility will be financed by a trust fund created in 1974 when property of the old California College of Medicine in Los Angeles was sold. The former Los Angeles-based medical school became a part of UCI in 1967.

Chancellor Jack W. Peltason said Friday that approval of the new clinic “will enhance the academic environment of UCI.” He added that the “campus clinical facility reflects the continued growth of the campus and our desire to meet the increasing health-care needs of the community.”

UCI currently uses a small rented space off campus to treat outpatients. University officials said the facility is used by more than 20 College of Medicine faculty members who see about 1,000 patients a month. Officials added that the rented facility is too small for the growing number of patients and the expanding medical faculty.

“The new facility will serve as a model for medical practice, research and education of the future,” said Dr. Gerald D. Weinstein, acting dean of the UCI College of Medicine.

The clinic will be the second medical treatment center to be established on the campus. The Beckman Laser Institute and Medical Clinic, which is scheduled to open in March, 1986, will use lasers to treat cancer, cardiovascular disease, eye disorders and other health problems.