OAK PARK, Ill. (WLS) — A state lawmaker tells the ABC7 I-Team there is an ongoing investigation into the finances of an Oak Park safety-net hospital that abruptly closed last month.

This while the I-Team has learned the current CEO of West Suburban Medical Center was served an eviction notice last week from the property’s owner, citing millions of dollars in debt owed.

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Through a spokesperson, CEO Manoj Prasad told the I-Team the eviction notice, “is without merit,” and that he would “address this matter through the appropriate legal channels.”

While there have been many developments since West Suburban Medical Center announced it was closing March 25, former physicians and staff at the facility say the top priority needs to be reopening the healthcare facility that plays a critical role in the community.

The Chicago Medical Society and former physicians sent a letter to Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker Monday, requesting “immediate state intervention” to reopen West Suburban Medical Center.

“We write to you to exercise your emergency authority to intervene in the hospital’s closure and take immediate action to reopen this critical safety-net institution,” the letter reads.

In an interview with the I-Team, Illinois’ 8th District state Rep. La Shawn Ford said several stage agencies are probing the finances of West Suburban Medical Center leading up to its closure.

“The Illinois Department of Public Health, and Department of Human Services, and [Healthcare and Family Services]; they’re all looking into this hospital and checking out the financials,” Ford said. “There’s an ongoing investigation because there’s been millions of dollars that have been provided, taxpayer dollars to this hospital to keep this afloat and it still closed.”

A spokesperson for HFS previously told the I-Team at least $30 million was loaned to the facility since 2023, including a $10 million loan one year ago.

The I-Team reached out to multiple state departments and the governor’s office for comment about the ongoing financial investigation into West Suburban’s closure but have not heard back.

Ford told the I-Team his constituents and the community is demanding a change in leadership for the beleaguered healthcare facility, and they want Resilience Healthcare CEO Prasad out.

“It closed on his watch… which means that the leadership failed the community,” Ford said. “I’m hearing every day, and this is not an exaggeration, that we need to have new leadership at the hospital.”

Dr. Vishnu Chundi is a former West Suburban Medical Center Physician and co-chair of the West Suburban Hospital Task Force to Reopen and Restore Care.

Chundi signed the letter sent to Governor Pritzker, imploring the state to reopen the facility immediately citing severe healthcare deficient for the West Side after its closure.

“The governor does have the emergency authority to open a hospital for at-need on an at-need basis,” Chundi said. “This hospital serves poor people. It serves people at the highest risk. And we call on the governor to open this hospital as soon as possible.”

Former West Suburban Nursing Director Sylvia Williams said she’s worked at the facility serving her community for nearly two decades.

“We really want to make sure that the hospital gets open and that the authorities do some investigation about why those monies weren’t appropriated to the hospitals, both Weiss [Memorial] and to West Suburban,” Williams told the I-Team. “Because we don’t see it. We’re there. We live there every day. The things that, you know, the equipment that we need… the monies were not spent on the hospital equipment.”

Among the plans in development to reopen the closed hospital includes efforts by the property owner of West Suburban and Weiss Memorial, Ramco Healthcare Holdings.

The I-Team obtained a copy of an eviction notice served to CEO Prasad and Resilience Healthcare dated April 9, claiming the hospital owes more than $10.2 million for the use of the property.

A spokesperson for Ramco told the I-Team this was the first step in a plan to remove Prasad and the current management and find another person or institution to run the hospital’s operations.

As the I-Team previously reported, more than a month before the hospital closed, the landowner had met with state officials, warning of the dire situation and need to oust Prasad and appoint a court-ordered receiver to oversee the process of finding a new management company.

State officials said they were not presented with “any viable plan to turn around their fiscal and operational issues.”

Ford hopes state officials and the community can come together to prevent a healthcare desert.

“What this hospital needs now more than ever is stability,” Ford said. “It’s been through so many challenges, and if it’s to open again, it has to open with stability and strong leadership.”