MOULTRIE, Ga. — The main campus may be in Pennsylvania, but a new medical school that plans to welcome its first class to Moultrie in about 16 months will have a local feel.

Philadelphia College of Medicine’s first class of 55 students is set to begin classes in August 2019 at a new facility on Tallokas Road, where a groundbreaking ceremony was held on Thursday.

“Our hope over time, a top goal, is to provide health care — provide education to students in the South Georgia region who will come back to (serve) the community,” said H. William Craver, PCOM’s dean and chief academic officer. “Our purpose in being here is to give an opportunity for students to train and remain in the community.”

The college hopes to draw students from the area who will in turn help address the need for more physicians in the region.

It already has in place Georgia South Family Medicine Residency, located across the street from Colquitt Regional Medical Center, where graduates can perform the required three years of additional training.

PCOM expects to have 20 teaching faculty members plus support staff.

The Moultrie campus is not the college’s first foray into Georgia. It opened a campus in Suwanee in 2005.

After deciding to branch out in South Georgia, PCOM used a consulting firm to help select the site, said Jay Feldstein, president and CEO. Moultrie was at the “center of the hub” and thus convenient for students doing clinical work in surrounding cities.

In addition to the economic impact of the staff who will be teaching in the area, a physician setting up shop in a community brings a $1.5 million benefit to the community, Craver said.

But the PCOM officials said that their emphasis is on helping to address the medical needs of the residents here. That would include the area’s Hispanic population that is integral to fruit and vegetable production in Colquitt and Tift counties and others in need of health care.

PCOM also intends to help address a physician shortage in the country. That shortage is greater in rural communities, which have a difficult time competing with larger cities in attracting medical talent.

By some estimates there could be a shortage of as many as 90,000 doctors or more by 2025.

The plan is that doctors will stay close to where they went to school and trained.

“Our educational plan is to help our students be sensitive to the needs of rural and underserved communities,” Craver said.