A group of about 60 protestors assembled this afternoon at the corner of Sixth Avenue and Grant Street, Downtown, in front of the U.S. Steel Tower to voice their anger about the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's plans to close its hospital in Braddock.

As a frigid drizzle momentarily turned into ice drops, the group of Braddock residents, community activists and union organizers waved signs that sought to portray UPMC officials -- headquartered in top floors of the steel tower-- and their plans to close the hospital in January as all but criminal.

"We want to know, where is their heart?" Patrick Minnaji, a Port Authority worker who lives in East Pittsburgh said as he pointed to the top of the Steel Tower.

Holding a sign that read "UPMC CEO NEEDS A HEART TRANSPLANT," Mr. Minnaji airied the prevailing sentiment of the group that the giant health care provider's decision to close the Braddock hospital showed a callous disregard for the plight of the poor and predominantly African American people in the Mon Valley borough.

"Why do they choose to turn away from the poor and when will they stop and listen to us and our need for an essential community hospital," said Mr. Minnaji, adding that he showed up to protest against UPMC in the memory of his mother who died in August while in the care of physicians at UPMC Braddock.

Citing an ongoing decline of the numbers of Braddock residents who use the hospital, UPMC announced last month it would close the 123-bed hospital it has operated for 13 years at the end of January.

More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

First Published: November 27, 2009, 6:45 p.m.