March 27th, 2009

Reports the Philadelphia Inquirer:

Four state lawmakers who represent neighborhoods near Northeastern Hospital still hope they can keep it open.

They are threatening to withhold funding to Temple University Health System, which announced this week that it will close the Port Richmond hospital July 1.

Temple said it would continue using the building to provide outpatient services, including prenatal care. With 800 workers, the hospital is a major employer in the city’s lower Northeast section, and 1,800 babies are delivered there each year.

State Rep. John Taylor (R., Phila.), whose district includes the hospital, called the health system’s decision to close the hospital “arrogant, ill-advised, and premature.”

He and three local Democratic legislators – State Sens. Michael Stack and Lawrence Farnese and State Rep. Michael O’Brien – are threatening to block more than $175 million in funding to Temple University, parent of the health system.

Read more at the Inquirer.