A group of concerned citizens has organised a petition drive to protest Government's decision to close the Medical Clinic.

Petition organisers will be at City Hall every day this week between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. asking fellow Bermudians to join their cause and help to halt the clinic's closure.

One of the organisers, Diana Williams, who is a retired nurse, said closing the clinic would be a burden on the community and for the patients it treats.

"We are hoping to get as many names as we possibly can. We are hoping that we can force the Government to change its mind," she said.

"We are here to stop the clinic from being closed for the poor people that cannot pay their bills. We feel very strongly that the clinic should not be closed. Dr. Brown has suggested they will have to find doctors elsewhere to get attention."

Mrs. Williams said if the clinic is closed, patients who have been using it lose such things as transportation, X-rays, eye exams, medication, and MRIs ? which were all available to them in one location and free of charge.

"These people have no money. They have no transportation.

"Some of them are mentally ill. Some of them are not well at all and some of them are very elderly.

"They cannot get themselves around to a doctor and say 'will you take me as a patient?' They're in the clinic because they can't afford to pay."

She added that the clinic also offered a social outlet to its patients.

"It was a lovely thing socially for them," she said.

"They could go there and have a cup of tea, tell the nurses their problems, and that was probably their only social gathering.

"If these people are put out into the wild, where will they find a doctor who will look after them?"

Many of those signing onto the petition yesterday expressed worry and anger over the issue but were unwilling to give their name to , fearing reprisals.

One man said: "This action (by Government) is not needed. Government is going to do what they want to do."

While an elderly woman who signed the petition uttered: "Leave it open! Why close it? Close down the free clinic and you'll have to go to a doctor and pay."

Government has said the clinic will be closed despite a mass protest last week, citing high costs as the main factor. Premier Ewart Brown said last week that the clinic was undignified ? claiming it carried a stigma for those who used it ? ever since it was opened.

The petition can be signed this week at City Hall, The Supermart in Hamilton, Rock Island Coffee, Aberfeldy Nursery and Miles Market.

Jennifer Brooks, who is representing the clinic's patients, started the petition.