Dr. Ronnie Chu officially opened his clinic on U.S. Highway 80 West in Demopolis on Sunday with a reception and a shower of firecrackers after cutting the ceremonial red ribbon. The clinic opened for business on Monday.

“I’m a board-certified family practice physician,” Chu said. “We do obstetrics deliveries, GYN and anything from babies to old folks — we take care of everything. We deliver more than 100 babies a year, do about 400-plus surgeries a year. We basically take care of everything, just like old-time doctors.”

Chu was born in Hong Kong, China, and came to the United States when he was 16. He earned his bachelor’s degree at Houston Baptist University and to medical school at the University of Texas-Galveston, where he also did his residency.

He came to Demopolis eight years ago, having been hired by Bryan W. Whitfield Memorial Hospital. He decided a few years ago to open a private practice.

“We’ve worked very hard,” Chu said. “This has been in the planning stages for about a year-and-a-half to two years. This building, the design, the layout were all a team effort. We got all the nurses together and we came up with a plan. We revised it a few times, and came up with this.

“Currently, there is just me and a nurse practitioner (on staff), but there will be another doctor and another nurse practitioner here in the next six months.”

Chu and his wife, Lucy, have two sons, Zachary, 11, and Jeremy, 9.

The clinic can be reached at 289-9982.