So is the new $900 million California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation hospital complex eight miles north of Manteca on Arch Road hurting Doctors Hospital of Manteca?

It’s a question a lot of people have asked since the local hospital has performed services for a number of years for inmates who are too ill to be treated at various prisons such as Deuel Vocational Institute in Tracy.

Not exactly. That’s because the new complex doesn’t perform a variety of surgical procedures. Doctors Hospital, as an example, recently performed a hand surgery on an inmate sent to the facility.

Doctors Hospital has had a secured ward for inmate patients for a number of years.

One would think a $900 million prison hospital with a staff of 2,400 would perform surgeries but then again this is California.