Rural hospitals in Ark. seek additional funding (UALR Public Radio) - The fate of two rural hospitals in Arkansas will be decided tomorrow, when voters in Hot Spring and Chicot counties go to the polls.

Voters will be asked to decide a five-year, half-cent sales tax to keep Hot Spring County Medical Center in Malvern open. Hospital officials say they will have to close the 85-year-old hospital if the tax doesn't pass.

The closest hospitals outside of Malvern are in Hot Springs and Benton.

Meanwhile, voters in Chicot County will decide a five-year, 1-cent sales tax for Chicot Memorial Hospital in Lake Village. Hospital officials say that without the additional funds, the hospital will have to scale back outpatient services and use on-call doctors rather than staff the emergency department 24 hours a day.

The closest hospitals to Chicot Memorial are in McGehee or Dumas.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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