The state plans to shutter SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn due ongoing financial struggles and a deteriorating building.

“They’re concerned about where they’re going to go now,” Dr. Melvin Mahoney said, who has worked at for 50 years.

But now, he and his longtime patients face an uncertain future.

What You Need To Know

  • SUNY Chancellor John King said there will not be any loss of care if and when the 342-certified bed hospital closes

  • Many of the inpatient services at Downstate will move across the street to a wing at Kings County Hospital, which is a public and city-run space

  • The hospital is part of SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, a major medical school and research institution. It also has the only kidney transplant program in the borough

  • A spokesperson said the hospital will try to limit staffing cuts and hopes to have a more detailed plan by the end of March

“We’ve dealt with lots of adversities in terms of limited funds, limited equipment and things like that which other hospitals don’t have. But we were able to provide something that they didn’t have and this is something from our hearts that we gave to our patients here,” Mahoney said.

Two weeks ago, New York State notified University Hospital staff about its plan to shrink or even shutter the only state-run hospital in the city.

“We do have a $100 million deficit at SUNY Downstate and we will run out of cash this summer and the building is in disrepair and at risk of catastrophic failure,” SUNY Chancellor John King said.

He assures patients that there will not be any loss of care if and when the 342-certified bed hospital closes.

Instead, many of the inpatient services at Downstate will move across the street to a wing at Kings County Hospital, which is public and city-run.

“We will create a SUNY Downstate wing of Kings County. Same doctors, same staff, still part of SUNY,” King said.

The new wing will have about half as many beds: 150. Longtime employees of SUNY Downstate said they’re concerned about their patients, many of whom are on Medicaid and Medicare, who have grown accustomed to this hospital and its staff.

“The community, I know, they depend on us. They need us. And I’m sure they don’t want us to close,” Michele Adams, a longtime nurse at SUNY Downstate, said.

The hospital is part of SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, a major medical school and research institution. It also has the only kidney transplant program in the borough.

Healthcare workers believe there is still a need for this hospital in central Brooklyn.

“Downstate has produced more physicians working in Brooklyn, in New York, more than any other medical academic center. That’s huge. And they can do that because this hospital is attached to it,” Kino Williams, a senior staff associate at the hospital, said.

In a statement, a spokesperson for SUNY Downstate said, “we are also committed to ensuring that essential services like our kidney transplant program, the only such program in Brooklyn, continue to be available to the community during and after the transformation process.”

A spokesperson also said the hospital will try to limit staffing cuts and hopes to have a more detailed plan by the end of March.