“Bad move for the community,” doctor says

A doctor well familiar with Oconee Medical Center warns that a marriage to a Greenville health organization will be bad for the Oconee County community. Dr. Tauqueer Alam, an internal medical specialist, sees an OMC affiliation with Greenville Health Systems as surrendering too much control to Greenville and will really harm Oconee when it comes to economic development and quality of life issues. Alam is a former OMC medical chief of staff and board member who today has limited privileges at the hospital, though he does refer patients to OMC. He told 96.3/WGOG NEWS that he believes OMC’s financial problems are caused by high management salaries and the costs of buying up doctors’ practices.