Conway Medical Center is opening a new emergency department. Here are the details

A new medical facility could open in the Conway area as early as 2026.

According to a press release from the healthcare provider, Conway Medical Center intends to open an emergency department at the intersection of Highway 22 and 90. The facility will have 12 beds for treatment and 24/7 emergency care. It will also serve a projected 17,000 patients a year.

Based on land record maps from Horry County, the emergency department will reside on a more than 44-acre property in Conway. The land needs rezoning for the plan to go through, and the Horry County Council approved the proposal on the first reading April 13, 2024. The proposal must go through two more readings and a public hearing before final approval.

The new facility proceeds with Conway Medical Center’s scrapping of a plan to build a larger 50-bed medical facility on more than 350 acres of land along International Drive. The plan, initially approved by the state in 2021, faced considerable pushback.

The South Carolina Department of National Resources wrote in a letter to the Horry County government in May 2021 voicing concern for the plan, saying that the land could hamper the agency’s ability to perform controlled burns to benefit the area.

The letter added that at least 37 rare plant species, including the Venus flytrap, live in the surrounding area of the proposed area and depend on controlled fires to ensure a healthy habitat. It further wrote that the proposed facility would hamper such efforts due to provisions in the Clean Air Act.

The Sun News reported in February 2024 that Conway Medical Center had walked away from the medical facility project. Now, the healthcare provider appears likely to sell the land.

Horry County Council Vice Chairman Dennis DiSabato told The Sun News that Conway Medical Center will sell the property to SCDNR, and he understood that the two parties signed the contract on Aug. 14, 2024.