Toledo City Council Seeks UTMC Audit
TOLEDO CITY COUNCIL SEEKS UTMC AUDIT
GRASS-ROOTS OPPONENTS INSIST: HALT THE RFP
Toledo City Council on Tuesday April 22 passed a resolution asking Ohio Governor Mike DeWine to stay the University of Toledo’s Board of Trustees request for proposals that seek an operational partnership or sale of the University of Toledo Medical Center. The Medical Campus in South Toledo also includes the former Medical College of Ohio hospital.
Citing a workforce of some 2300 facing potential displacement, the ongoing COVID-19 crisis’s impact on employment, plus the fact that UTMC researchers have developed the only locally available novel coronavirus test kits, the resolution also calls for a forensic audit of UT financial decisions in light of UTMC’s current financial condition.
RESOLUTION IS LATEST IN ONGOING EFFORTS
The U.T. Board of Trustees on Monday, April 13 took action to request proposals to purchase, lease or manage UTMC.
That very next morning, the Save UTMC Steering Committee held a press conference where leadership spoke out against any such attempt, noting that “it is Ohio’s property, and Governor DeWine will make the call, along with other state officials,” according to Carty Finkbeiner, former Mayor of Toledo.
“This public hospital is the peoples’ hospital,” said State Senator Teresa Fedor. “What happened … is an indication that (the U.T. Board of Trustees members) are not honest brokers.” Fedor and Finkbeiner were joined by State Representative Paula Hicks-Hudson (also a former Mayor of Toledo), and Dr. James Willey and Randy Desposito, representing UT physicians and labor respectively. All are members of the Save UTMC Steering Committee.
MARCY KAPTUR JOINS THE CALLS
The weekend of April 18, U.S. Representative Marcy Kaptur contacted Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, asking for a halt to the process, citing, among other concerns, “a complete absence of physicians or other professionals of academic medical centers” on the U.T. Board of Trustees.
Former Mayor Finkbeiner adds “We need to maintain pressure on state officials and the University of Toledo President to conduct a forensic audit and keep this in the public eye. Before the acquisition of MCO by UT and the affiliation with ProMedica, this was a profitable operation.”
Next on the Save UTMC agenda is a teleconference with Randy Gardner, State of Ohio Chancellor of Higher Education, Congresswoman Kaptur, and members of the Save UTMC Steering Committee.