PLAQUEMINE, La. (AP) — Construction on Iberville Parish's $20 million medical facility is nearly 30 percent complete, with parish officials confident residents can once again obtain local hospital and clinic care by winter 2014.

The Advocate reports construction on the 43,000-square-foot medical complex kicked off in June on a 27-acre site off La. 1 in south Plaquemine.

The facility, to be operated by Ochsner Health System, will feature 24 patient exam/procedure rooms, two of which will be trauma rooms, and lab and radiology services that will include X-ray, CAT scan, MRI, ultrasound and mammography.

The parish has been without a hospital since 2008, after River West Medical Center was forced to close because it was severely damaged during Hurricane Gustav.

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