Hands off Harlem Hospital!

Defenders of Harlem Hospital assembled on Oct. 13 to support the Doctors Council SEIU, who are fighting the assault on patient services and opposing the imminent layoffs of 20 or more doctors. Recently North General Hospital was shut down and is now a clinic.

Harlem Hospital, which is the only public hospital left serving the Harlem community, is a historic pillar in the community. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a patient at the hospital after a stabbing in 1958. Harlem Hospital caters to the needs of its community by having a special asthma clinic — asthma rates are higher in inner city districts. There are also substance abuse programs, neurosurgery, dermatology, neonatal programs and more.

Columbia University is severing its affiliation with the hospital effective January 1, 2011. The Health and Hospitals Corporation, which controls public hospitals, has initiated budget cuts to close a $1.2 billion budget gap.

At the rally and demonstration across the street from Harlem Hospital on 135th St and Lenox Avenue, workers, doctors, and Harlem residents and supporters marched vigorously carrying signs and chanting, “Hey hey, ho ho, doctor layoffs got to go!” and “No justice, no peace!” among other chants. One angry woman said, “You don’t know the half of it — when the money was there, Columbia was there, and when the money was gone, Columbia was gone.”

Speakers showing solidarity with the doctors and workers at Harlem Hospital included Freedom Party gubernatorial candidate Charles Barron, U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel, former New York Mayor David Dinkins and the Rev. Al Sharpton. They spoke of their respect and regard for the famed institution and vowed to do whatever it takes to protect the hospital, which is so vital to the health and lives of those in Harlem.

It is not fair to take this hospital and shrink it to shreds — and then across the street you can see work being done to expand the structure. For what? Why have a hospital with no doctors and no services? Maybe this is a sneak attack for the developers to build condos or more space for Columbia University. We must not let this happen! Save Harlem Hospital!

The writer’s grandfather, Louis Charles Kincaid, was the first African-American plumber employed at Harlem Hospital.