by Bob Moore, SLFP.com
ST. LOUIS, MO, (SLFP.com), August 11, 2009 - The Downtown Urgent Care opened its doors in early 2009 on the first floor of the 27,000-square-foot Truman Building, which features an exterior neon sign depicting President Harry Truman. The location, at 916 Olive Street, is also in the Historic Old Post Office district, site of a new grocery store.

Dr. Sonny Saggar, President and CEO of Downtown Urgent Care, said he was very excited about the opening of the new Culinaria Market. "I think it will help our patients get faster and more affordable service in terms of perscription medication."

The close proximity of a full pharmacy in the store on the ground floor of the Ninth Street Garage will also provide additional services for the Downtown Urgent Care. "When patients go to the Culinaria they will have free parking which we never had before. They can get their medication and groceries at the same time," stated Dr. Saggar.

Dr. Sagger said that the decision to located downtown was to serve a need. "There's a hundred thousand people who work downtown and there was no immediate rapid turn-around medical center down here. I didn't understand why the big health care systems like Barnes and SLU weren't doing anything down here. Barnes even closed their clinic on the 1st of July. Downtown is growning and now has a doctor's office, as well as an internal medicine group, urgent care center and women's wellness center here. With the new grocery store and the book store around the corner, it's become a little village here now," said Dr. Sagger.

In response to a question regarding the critical issue of health care, Dr. Sagger emphasized that his priority is not profit, but patient care. "We administer our medical center here differently from most physicians in that we don't look at the money first. Of course we need money to survive, pay the bills and meet our payroll, but there are a lot of people falling on bad times and we are here to help them regardless or how much they can afford. We can work out a way for them to pay for their care."

"I welcome a plan for universal health care because I think it would make health care more affordable and accessible to millions of people who are too afraid to go to the doctor because they can't afford it," stated Dr. Saggar. For more information, call 314-436-9300.

Original Link:  http://www.slfp.com/Community/Health081609.htm