The Administration of the St. Joseph Catholic Hospital says the hospital will not shut down as was previously announced.

Early this year, the management of the hospital announced that it was shutting down its operations due to the lack of financial support from its sponsor, The Province of Castilla of the Brothers of St. John God based in Spain. They said their sponsor was no longer in the position to provide the usual financial and material supports due to global financial crisis.

The hospital is running on an annual budget of US$1.8 million with government providing only US$125,000 annually.

In a release issued in Monrovia Sunday, the administration said it was making gradual progress of moving to a sustainable state and assured the public that the hospital will not be closed.

The release quotes the administration as saying that the decision was taken following series of meetings and negotiations with local and international partners, especially the Liberian government over the last few months as to how the hospital would remain operational.

The administration said it has been working in three different directions, increasing its activities and revenue, controlling current expenditure to afford increment in staff salaries and increase in support from donors, adding "based on these efforts the hospital will not closed to the public."

The hospital is commending the Liberian government for increasing its subsidy from US$125,000 to US$231,000 in the current budget.