Salina ? University of Kansas Chancellor says students at the university’s new medical school in Salina will be delighted with their school.

Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little toured the ongoing renovations for the new school of medicine in Salina on Thursday, and said she was impressed.

The three-story building at the Salina Regional Health Center will be renovated to become a four-year medical school.

The Salina Journal reports that the school is scheduled to open at the end of July with a class of eight students. Plans are to increase to 32 students by the fourth year.

Dr. William Cathcart-Rake, director of the Salina school, says the school will fill a need in rural Kansas, which is severely underserved.

Gray-Little said 95 to 100 Kansas counties are understaffed with doctors, especially in rural areas.