A surgical implant is provided which includes a body and a coating in contact with at least a portion of the body, the body including metallic magnesium, the coating including a hydrogel having an adhesion peptide contained therein. The adhesion peptide may be derived from an extracellular matrix protein and may be covalently bonded to the hydrogel. A method of making a surgical implant includes providing a magnesium based degradable implant body applying and adhering a functionalized reactive silane based adhesion promoting layer to the implant body providing a hydrogel monomeric solution having extracellular matrix adhesion peptides incorporated therein and contacting the hydrogel monomeric solution with the adhesion promoting layer such that the hydrogel polymerizes and bonds to the adhesion promoting layer and encapsulates at least a portion of the implant.
