The clock is ticking for the closure of Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital. 

The hospital recently asked the New York state Department of Health if it can shut down on July 12. Local lawmakers are fighting this saying that it will leave 400,000 New Yorkers without access to a nearby hospital. 

The plan has been on the horizon for years.  Assembly Member Harvey Epstein says it all started when Mount Sinai took over Beth Israel in 2013. 

“Almost immediately, they start taking some of the valuable services out of Beth Israel in 2017 and then they act like they’re going to close the hospital ... then in ‘21, they say they’re reversing their plans in keeping it open. We don’t hear from them in two years. Then we try to meet with them in October of ‘23, and they’re like, ‘Oh, we’re tried to get new funding, we couldn’t figure it out, we’re gonna close,’” Epstein told News 12 New York in a recent Zoom interview. 

Epstein says the hospital didn’t alert local lawmakers who could’ve helped them get access to funding. He says that Bellevue is the closest option for care, more than 10 blocks north. 

“There are huge lines at Bellevue, they’re over capacity at Bellevue already, which is the next nearest hospital. Let’s say they even get to Bellevue on time, does Bellevue have the capacity to take all of those ambulances? They say no,” he says.    A spokesperson for Mount Sinai Beth Israel told News 12 New York:  

Still, Epstein is optimistic. 

“I think we have a good shot of ensuring that it doesn’t close on July 12,” he says.  

Epstein says this is the second time that Beth Israel applied with the Health Department for a July 12 closing.  He says the first request submitted at the end of last year was rejected because the application was incomplete.