Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas today thanked Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, a local businessman and philanthropist, for extending a $100 million guaranty to the University of California to provide physician services for the new Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital.
During a news conference at UCLA, the Supervisor said the generous gesture will underwrite the County’s own $100 million commitment to protect the University from funding shortfalls. The UC Board of Regents are scheduled to vote on the deal on November 19 during a meeting on the Westwood campus.
Trained as physician in South Africa during apartheid, Dr. Soon-Shiong witnessed health care disparities that he said compelled him, through the foundation he established with his wife, Michele, to take an active role in opening the new hospital in South Los Angeles.
“This is a physician who cares about patients and who cares about the highest quality of care that can be extended to them,” said the Supervisor, who was joined at the news conference by Dr. Soon-Shiong, Assembly Speaker Karen Bass and Jack Kyser, chief economist of the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation.
“I understand how devastating it can be to a community, and to a whole generation of children, without appropriate medical care,” Dr. Soon-Shiong said.
Assembly Speaker Bass, a member of the Board of Regents, called Dr. Soon-Shiong’s gesture “a tremendous boost” for opening the new hospital. She predicted the Regents will “take an affirmative vote” at their meeting.
Kyser said the closure of the old Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital has increased overcrowding at other hospitals in the county that now treat patients from South Los Angeles. Two years ago, Kyser said he wound up in a nursing home after the hospital in his community was unable to admit him because it was filled to capacity.
Kyser also touted the economic benefits of a new hospital, which he said will provide one job in the community for every employee the facility hires.
Tags: Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, Jack Kyser, MLK Hospital, Speaker Karen Bass, Supervisor Ridley-Thomas