Hospital spending nearly $1M to build vault

MCCOMB — Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center has awarded an $879,500 bid to build a vault for the cancer center’s new linear accelerator.

The Enterprise-Journal reports Smith Painting & Contracting of Hattiesburg was awarded the project in late December.

The new vault at the Mississippi Cancer Institute will be next to the existing structure that holds the accelerator, used for the past 11 years for radiation oncology.

The vault must be built, and $3 million in new medical equipment placed inside before the existing machinery can be taken off-line.

Hospital officials say this will ensure uninterrupted treatment.

The new equipment includes a CT scan to better pinpoint the exact radiation treatment location.