TORONTO - The provincial government says it wants Toronto's historic Grace Health Centre to remain in operation.
The Salvation Army runs the hospital, which offers palliative and complex care, but says it wants to get out of the hospital business.
Health and Long Term Care Minister Deb Matthews says the Grace Health Centre is a vital component of an integrated health care system in Toronto.
In a statement Friday, Matthews said she's asked the Salvation Army to grant another extension to give the hospital's board the opportunity to develop a plan to continue offering services at the Grace.
Matthews says she's also asked the Local Health Integration Network to give the Grace board more time to come up with a plan.
Matthews says she wants the plan to be to keep the services at the Grace, which has been run by the Salvation Army since 1889.
The Salvation Army, which once ran four hospitals in Ontario, says it wants to focus on core ministries.
"We are grateful to the Salvation Army for the decades of generous service they have provided the community," Matthews said.
