The city’s public hospital system has asked state health officials to greenlight an expansion of women’s health services at its Coney Island hospital as childbirths continue to rise.
South Brooklyn Health, part of New York City Health + Hospitals, filed plans to the Department of Health last week to build a nearly 20,000 square-foot obstetrics and gynecology unit. The $26.5 million project would expand the current 11,000 square-foot women’s health suite, as well as combine reproductive health, high-risk pregnancy, neonatal and primary care services on a single hospital floor, according to a certificate-of-need application.
South Brooklyn Health, which serves neighborhoods including Coney Island, Brighton Beach and Gravesend, has experienced a 35% uptick in childbirths since 2021, according to hospital data presented at a board meeting last year. Citywide births have declined slightly during that time, but Brooklyn still has the second-highest pregnancy rate of the boroughs, behind only the Bronx, city data shows.
South Brooklyn Health handles roughly 1,400 births each year – 7% of all deliveries in Brooklyn, according to a state Health Department report published last year.
The expanded women’s health suite will have 27 exam rooms, six ultrasound rooms and support spaces for staff, according to the hospital. The hospital also plans to create six multi-purpose procedure rooms where clinicians from different specialties can meet patients in a single location, aligned with its goal of integrating women’s health services that are scattered across the hospital.
The project was approved by the public hospital system’s board of directors last June. The board greenlit an up to $25 million contract with Long Island-based Axis Construction Corporation to design and build the women’s health unit.
Pending approval from state health officials, Health + Hospitals plans to start construction of the women’s health suite later this year and complete the project within 15 months, according to its application.
