Joined by a coalition of healthcare workers and labor and community leaders, Senator Zellnor Y. Myrie (D-Central Brooklyn) called for $159 million in emergency funding to stabilize SUNY Downstate Medical Center, according to a news release from the state senator’s office. The hospital, New York City’s flagship state-run healthcare institution, faces a significant funding shortfall after being designated a “COVID-only facility” by then-Governor Cuomo in 2020.
On March 28, 2020, then-Governor Cuomo designated SUNY Downstate as Brooklyn’s sole COVID-only hospital. This required the hospital to divert all non-COVID inpatient cases to other facilities, cancel all elective and emergent surgeries, close all clinics, and divert all obstetric patients to other hospitals. While treating COVID patients, Downstate suffered significant shortages of critical supplies and equipment.
The virtual shutdown has had severe financial impacts, even after the designation was lifted, and has resulted in a COVID-related deficit of $159 million. Read more.
