From the outside, it looks like a standard modern commercial block of grey brick and glass backing onto a lane behind Wollongong's popular Keira Street dining strip.
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You would never know there's a state-of-the-art hospital inside.
The Victoria Street Private Hospital opened in the CBD this month after six years of planning and construction.
Director of Nursing Julianne Thynne, who is one of 11 staff there, said people were surprised when they walked out of the lift and into the first floor of the hospital.
"It's a pretty new concept to have something like this in an office building in Wollongong, but it's not a new concept to have places like this in Sydney," she said.
It was built by founding director Ash Agarwal - who also owns Acorn Lawyers - to give surgeons an alternative place to practice, and offer new facilities and technology for Wollongong patients might otherwise would have had to travel to Sydney.
While it only has 10 beds, and three overnight spaces for patients who need further pain treatment or monitoring, Mr Agarwal said the hospital had the potential to treat up to 200 patients each week when it reaches full capacity.
The three-storey building also houses Wollongong Eye Specialists, and the surgical rooms for the hospital's lead ophthalmic surgeon Associate Professor Smita Agarwal.
By early next year, its expected that surgeons from a range of specialities - including plastics, dental, endoscopy and possibly gynaecology and orthopaedics - will be operating in the theatres, which have been equipped with cutting-edge technology.
"When we were building this facility, we did not look at it as a facility good enough for Wollongong - we wanted something which was actually one of the best in the country," Mr Agarwal said.
"So we give that alternative to patients who might have been going to Sydney."
Kate McIlwain
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
