The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston is laying off 200 workers as it faces a budget shortfall of $174 million, according to The Daily News.
Interim President Ben Raimer, MD, said the budget shortfall is due to financial damage linked to the COVID-19 pandemic. The layoffs will affect approximately 1.5 percent of UTMB Health's workforce.
"Our world was a very different place when I took the job as your President ad interim last September," Dr. Raimer wrote in an Aug. 10 letter to employees. "No one could have predicted then the devastating effects of this pandemic and the difficult decisions that would follow."
The layoffs will mainly affect support and administrative staff, and officials said they don't anticipate cutting jobs in clinical operations, according to KPRC.