BIDDEFORD – State regulators have approved a $23.5 million expansion of Southern Maine Medical Center that includes a new emergency center.

“This expansion is greatly needed, and the careful study by the Department of Health and Human Services has confirmed that,” said Edward J. McGeachey, the hospital’s president and chief executive officer.

The cornerstone of the expansion is a new emergency and urgent care center.

Southern Maine Medical Center is the state’s eighth-largest hospital, but the emergency department is the fifth busiest. Last year 36,000 patients were seen – an increase of 1,000 patients over 2003.

The new center will double the size of the current emergency department and will offer increased privacy as well as separate waiting and treatment areas for emergency care, urgent care and mental health care.