A spokesman for a new hospital under construction said it will succeed despite political roadblocks.

Mark Roberts, president of Muskogee Community Hospital, said city leaders have continued creating new rules and refusing to approve plans.

“A certificate of need was put in place to stop us,” he said. “We’re not trying to make waves, just better health care.”

Roberts said the location was moved twice as a result of complications dealing with the city. The final location is just outside city limits at North Main Street and Harris Road, the site of the former Bacone College rodeo grounds.

Mayor Wren Stratton said the city wanted MCH backers to do a study establishing the need for a second hospital and its long-term impact.

“It doesn’t matter my opinion, nor does it matter Mark Roberts’ opinion; what matters are the facts,” she said. “Unfortunately, they circumvented needing to provide those (when they moved outside city limits). A facility with that many inpatient beds needs to be able to justify that this community can support them.”

Betty Pace, in her 70s, said she believes there may be a need for another hospital.

“If Muskogee could hire more doctors, we would be much better off,” she said. “I hear it from people that we need more services.”

Pace said neither she nor her husband Harold have had any problems with Muskogee Regional Medical Center, the city’s existing hospital.

Not everyone thinks the area needs a second hospital. Steve Mahan, chief executive officer at Muskogee Regional Medical Center, said he believes MCH will place an additional burden on the market’s scarcity of physicians and nurses.

Stratton agreed with Mahan’s statement about the problem of physicians and nurses.

“I can document that we don’t have enough health care workers,” she said.

“The long-term impact is negative; they simply increase the shortage for our community.”

Roberts said he believes there are enough local patients to keep both hospitals busy.