A new concern has emerged for a group of citizens including doctors in Madera — the license for their community’s shuttered hospital is set to expire May 26.
The Madera Community Hospital closed its doors in January and filed for bankruptcy in March.
Dr. Mohammad Ashraf, who is a specialist in cardiovascular disease, said the hospital owes a license fee of $100,000 before the license expires in the next three weeks.
According to a license detail search on the California Department of Health Care Access and Information, the effective date for the Madera Community Hospital license was May 27, 2022 and it’s set to expire on May 26, The Fresno Bee reports.
Ashraf said if the hospital loses its license, potential investors won’t be interested in buying it and reopening its much-needed facilities.
“If we lose the license, we’re gone,” Ashraf told The Bee. “The requirements are so stringent,” he said, “that it would take at least a year to get the license. It’s a very lengthy process.”
Riley Walter, the bankruptcy attorney for the Madera hospital, agreed that if the hospital license expires it will make the situation more difficult. Walter said “regulators promised to ‘do everything to help,’ so we will see.” Read more.
