EAST FLATBUSH, Brooklyn (PIX 11) — The long-standing University Hospital at Downstate in East Flatbush could soon close its doors, citing financial struggles and a building in disrepair.
Demonstrators at a rally Thursday say the proposed closure of SUNY Downstate would impact the 400,000 patients it serves each year.
“A lot of hospitals are closing all over the place and when you take away this hospital from Central Brooklyn, you are leaving us trapped,” said Violet Thom, a longtime patient of SUNY Downstate.
Thom, who lives just blocks away from SUNY Downstate, is outraged over plans to close the hospital that has served Central Brooklyn for more than a century.
“There are no words to explain this,” Thom said. “This would devastate the entire neighborhood and if this hospital is removed, we are going to suffer.”
SUNY Downstate, which is the only state-run hospital in the city, also has the only kidney transplant center in all of Brooklyn.
“We have a lot of people going back on dialysis because they can’t travel to other institutions to get care,” said Ian Mason, Assistant Director of Nursing at SUNY Downstate.
Sources at SUNY Downstate tell PIX11 News that while they don’t plan to close the hospital fully, they are looking to transfer in-patient services to other locations including right across the street at New York Health and Hospitals/Kings County.
The potential closure comes amid what sources said is a financial strain on the hospital and a crumbling building that could cost more than $4 billion to repair. Demonstrators now worry that nearby hospitals will be overwhelmed with an influx of patients.
“I know nurses and doctors in Kings County,” Mason said. “They’re already complaining. If we’re supposed to come over there what would happen? You overwhelm the system.”
Governor Kathy Hochul is investing $400 million in the state budget to transform SUNY Downstate, which would need to be approved by lawmakers by the budget’s April 1st deadline.
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