Interfaith Hospital Closure Postponed

The process to shutdown Bed-Stuy's Interfaith Hospital — originally scheduled to begin Monday — has been postponed, according to Public Advocate Bill de Blasio.

de Blasio filed an injunction last week to force the state's Department of Health to review its closure plan for the struggling medical center. He argued that the department did not give Interfaith the legally required 90-day planning period.

According to de Blasio, the process will now be pushed back by at least two weeks, as the Department of Health will conduct further review of the impact the closure is likely to have on the surrounding community.

"We've said from the beginning, we're not going to let hospitals close on our watch," de Blasio said. "None of us were going to take this lying down."

While the postponement does not give Interfaith a new lease on life — or expunge its large debts — it does give the hospital's staff more time to craft a plan in an attempt to save it.

"175,000 people depend on Interfaith as their primary emergency room," de Blasio added.

Check out the video above, courtesy of the Public Advocate's office.