MOULTRIE, Ga. — Moultrie and Colquitt County will be the home of a medical college with an economic impact on the area that could be near $90 million annually — pending accreditation approval.

Students may begin studies as early as fall of 2018. The site for construction has yet to be announced. Reportedly several viable sites are being reviewed. Local agencies have put $3 million in the pot to help acquire property and construction.

The announcement came Monday during the grand opening of the regional office of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce in Tifton. Brian Ginn, chief campus officer of the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM), said   he has submitted an   application to the Commission on Osteopathic College of Accreditation for approval of a four-year teaching site in Moultrie.

“It’s a regional concept,” said Jim Matney, administrator of Colquitt Regional Medical Center, who has been at the center of this development since day one.

Matney, who also serves on the Moultrie-Colquitt County Economic Development Authority, said several hospitals around Southwest Georgia are part of this project. Area hospitals will be instrumental in providing residencies for the students who train here. And neighboring communities will have the benefit of students being trained near home.

“This has been the best example of how communities across South Georgia partner together on a regional effort that will help to ensure long term sustainability across industries in South Georgia, enhance our quality of life and support our students’ access to and participation in the medical education pipeline,” said Darrell Moore, president of the Moultrie-Colquitt County Economic Development Authority.

Colquitt Regional signed a memorandum of agreement Oct. 31, 2016, with PCOM to develop a feasibility study for bringing a four-year medical school to South Georgia. PCOM is working to partner with colleges in South Georgia to recruit outstanding students into medical school and enhance the medical education pipeline through support of STEM programs in the school systems, Matney said.

PCOM already has a campus in Suwanee, Ga., and this will be a satellite campus of that facility. Initially, PCOM officials were looking at Tift, Colquitt or Thomas counties to build, but all will be a part of the regional concept to make it a success. It will provide a four-year medical education to college graduates who would then attend a three-year residency before being able to practice medicine.

In an earlier interview, PCOM President Dr. Jay Feldstein said the first class of students could begin studies possibly in August 2018.

It also would increase the number of health professionals working in area hospitals, many of which are hard-pressed to find medical personnel to locate at rural facilities.

“This truly is a great day for everybody,” Feldstein earlier told an audience of more than 100 that included elected and economic development officials, medical staff, and Colquitt County High students who may one day be among the school’s students. “We are truly committed as an organization to provide health care to underserved areas in both rural and urban environments.”

The college, a not-for-profit operation founded in 1899, opened a Georgia campus in Suwanee in 2005 in order to focus on the need for more medical professionals in South Georgia. Feldstein said that statistics show that most medical school graduates settle close to where they studied, and that doctors are more likely to remain within 60 miles of where they do their medical residency training.

The medical school will create an opportunity to educate physicians, pharmacists and physician assistants who are needed in the region, Matney said.

 “The greatest idea was to create a regional opportunity for kids to get training closer to home, and allow them to stay at home,” he said.

The Economic Development Authority has put up $1.5 million toward the project. Moultrie City Council pledged $500,000 to the project and Colquitt County Board of Commissioners added $1 million to bring the total to aid construction to $3 million.

Georgia is 40th out of all the states in the number of doctors per 1,000 residents, Moore said.

 “The rural physician shortage is even greater than in urban areas,” Moore said. “Not only is Georgia facing a physician shortage, we’re facing a shortage of (physician assistants), nurse practitioners.” Hospitals in Grady and Mitchell counties have expressed their excitement about helping them recruit and retain medical personnel, Moore said, and the Philadelphia medical school’s campus here needs the support of all the communities and colleges in the area.

“I’ve always said what helps the region helps all of us,” Moore added.

 Moore said estimates are that the medical school would create 500 direct and indirect jobs, not including the economic development spin-off in retail and housing associated with the influx of good-paying jobs.

After a similar school became established in Dothan, Ala., Moore said, they estimated it brought an economic impact of $97 million per year. Estimates are “that a new physician creates 23 jobs,” he said. “This is really going to be transformational for Southwest Georgia. It’s going to change everything.”