Debt-ridden North General Hospital stopped accepting ambulances Tuesday morning as a new urgent care clinic taking its place began seeing patients, according to reports.

The closing 30-year-old Harlem hospital, which is declaring bankruptcy in the face of over $200 million in debts, plans on transferring or releasing the last of its patients by July 12, according to news channel NY1.

By 8 a.m. Tuesday, the hospital stopped accepting ambulances, according to NY1. Patients with emergencies are being diverted to nearby hospitals.
For those with urgent but non-emergent needs, the Institute of Family Health, a local federally qualified health care provider, began seeing patients this week in a community health center it opened in the hospital's old diagnostic and treatment center.

North General did not return calls for comment.

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