The Fordham-Tremont Community Mental Health Center, the clinic at St. Barnabas Hospital, sees more than 100,000 patients a year, 80 percent of them Hispanic. The clinic is operating under dangerous conditions, according to various medical professionals who prefer to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation.

"There is asbestos, lead paint, there is no air conditioning or ventilation, and the people in wheelchairs can't use the bathrooms because the toilets are too low to the ground," one of the sources explained. "The rooms are very small, which makes privacy difficult, and the elevators are very slow."

The clinic occupies the second, third, fourth, and fifth floors of an 11-story building constructed in 1927, which is located at 2021 Grand Concourse Avenue. The clinic provides care for adults, women, and children, as well as eye, dental, and obstetric care, mental health services, and a Women, Infant and Children program, WIC.

Justin Wood, of Committee of Interns and Residents/SEIU Healthcare, a health workers' union, said that St. Barnabas Hospital documented the clinic's problems in 2008, when it planned to build a new clinic on property purchased for $5 million at 2050 Grand Concourse.

Its Certificate of Need, which was presented to the New York State Office of Mental Health, stated: the clinic "is unsuitable; it can't meet current or future needs, and its programs can't fulfill all of the city's regulations for emergency cases."

"We want St. Barnabas Hospital to demand that the landlord rectify all of the conditions deemed dangerous to patients so they are not in violation of the mental health code; otherwise, the clinic should move to a different location," said Wood.

"The hospital already said it isn't going to build a new clinic due to lack of funding, and yet the hospital is building a parking lot that costs more than $20 million," complained one of the sources. "I think the main priority should be the health of the patients."

Steve Clark, spokesperson for the hospital, said that the hospital doesn't own but rents the building, "and the medical professionals should notify the hospital of these issues, not the press."

"It's not the responsibility of St. Barnabas Hospital to fix these problems, it's the responsibility of the landlord," said Clark. He added that he still doesn't know if the clinic will remain at its current headquarters when the lease expires in March.

El Diario/La Prensa was unable to reach the landlord of 2021 Grand Concourse Avenue for comment.