Hearing to keep Nashoba Valley Medical Center open planned as Steward hospital sales delayed again

A hearing to discuss the proposed sale of six Steward Hospitals in Massachusetts is postponed again.

The meeting was supposed to be scheduled for Friday, August 15 but is now scheduled for August 22.

On Thursday night there will be a hearing to keep the Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer open.

Steward is set to close both it and Carney Hospital in Dorchester at the end of the month after it says it did not get any qualified bids.

On Tuesday night, hundreds of people showed up to a public hearing scheduled by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to share their concerns about the planned closure of Carney Hospital.

Steward also said it has reached an agreement to sell its nationwide physicians network to a private equity firm.

Timothy Johnston, Ayer’s Fire Chief says losing Nashoba Valley will increase emergency response times throughout the area, saying what now takes 10 minutes to get a patient to a hospital, could soon take as much as 45.

The meeting to keep Nashoba Valley Medical Center open starts at 6 p.m. at the Devens Common Center.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.

Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter . | Watch Boston 25 News NOW