Brooklyn could soon lose its only kidney transplant program should the state scale down SUNY Downstate Medical Center.
The hospital in the Wingate section of Brooklyn has low patient enrollment and an annual operating deficit of $100 million and is plagued by infrastructural decay, according to the New York Times.
Concerns around the closure emanate from the possible loss of the kidney transplant program, which the neighboring city-run Kings Country Hospital does not offer. SUNY Chancellor John King Jr. told the Times the state is mulling the transfer of inpatient care at Downstate to other local hospitals, preferably Kings County, effectively creating a "wing” of SUNDY Downstate at the hospital.
Closing inpatient services would free up funding and lead to new funding from the state that Downstate intended to use to build a new urgent care center and an ambulatory surgery center, and to increase primary care, King said.
The plan was met with mixed responses.
Frederick Kowal, president of United University Professions, expressed doubt that downscaling operations at the hospital was an option, saying it was a straight-up closure, which he said would harm health care.
