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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Aimee Braniff Cree & Benedict Tetzlaff-Deas

Inside abandoned hospital left empty for years - with valuable equipment left dormant

Eerie images taken inside an abandoned hospital show empty surgery tables and expensive medical equipment laying unused.

Barnwell County Hospital in Barnwell, South Carolina, was regarded as a state-of-the-art institution when it opened in 1954, including modern features such as air-conditioning, piped-in oxygen, and an audio-visual nurse-to-patient call system.

The hospital, which had 43 beds and was originally built alongside a 10-bed nursing home for a cost of $815,000 (£650,000), served the local area before it began to experience financial difficulties in the early 21st century.

In 2011, the running of the facility was taken over by Barnwell County Council, which approved a contract with Healthcare Management Partners (HMP) and promptly placed it into bankruptcy.

Electricity still appears to be working in a surgical room in snaps taken by urban explorer Leland Kent (mediadrumimages/LelandKent)

It was renamed Southern Palmetto Hospital two years later, after being purchased by Resurgence Management Company LLC, but the company failed to turn its fortunes around and the hospital ceased all operations in 2016.

Despite years of decline and turmoil, its eventual closure was so abrupt that most people - including the local police department - reportedly only found out about it through Facebook.

Shutting its doors immediately at noon only the day after the announcement, it left the county without its only hospital and South Carolina lacking yet another rural medical facility after a wave of closures.

The hospital, which ceased operations in 2016, still appears in good condition from the outside (mediadrumimages/LelandKent)

Urban explorer Leland Kent, who took the new pictures of the now-empty building, said on his blog: "On Wednesday, January 20, 2016, Southern Palmetto Hospital released a statement announcing the end of patient services and temporarily ceasing operations as of the following day at noon, noting that 'maintaining a full-service hospital for the current demand from the acute and emergency patients is not sustainable', and that the hospital had been operating at a loss despite efforts to improve efficiency, collections, and the facility itself.

"The statement indicated that the hospital lost $2.5million from operations because of a low patient census and uncompensated car.

The closure came as a shock to many in the local area, who depended on the hospital (mediadrumimages/LelandKent)

"The closure came as a shock to many within the small town who depended on the hospital.

"Most people including the police chief found out about the closure through Facebook. Southern Palmetto was the third rural hospital to close within 10 months in South Carolina."

In 2018, the vacant hospital was sold to Baptist Gardens, a California faith-based nonprofit organisation, and it has sat vacant but alarmed and with a security system ever since.

The hospital building has been vacant since it was bought in 2018 (mediadrumimages/LelandKent)

But that didn't stop Leland, better known by his online alias Abandoned Southeast, from grabbing a few photographs.

One image shows the operating theatre complete with surgical lights, while another shot shows the exterior of the hospital, which seems to still be in good condition.

Another snap shows multiple abandoned x-ray machines, with probably thousands of pounds worth of equipment left behind.

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