US Global Health, one of the few foreign medical clinics in Moscow, announced Wednesday that it will close for lack of funds at the end of the week, just over a year after opening.


"We just found out this morning that our financial sponsors have decided to no longer fund us. I guess we're bankrupt," said Dr. Patricia Roussel, who handles the clinic's prenatal care services.


The three-doctor crew that staffed the 24-hour clinic was mostly unprepared for the news, she said. "The clinic has actually been growing for the past few months. We all feel that it's an inappropriate time to close."


All medical and emergency services will cease at US Global Health by the end of the workday on Friday, Roussel said. Doctors began calling patients Wednesday morning to warn them of the closure.


Global Health clients Wednesday said they were stunned and angered by the decision to close the clinic. One patient, who asked not to be identified, said she heard of the news only as a rumor before calling the clinic to receive confirmation.


"With only two days notice and no notification, it's outrageous," she said. "I have a child and it's very stressful to be in Moscow with no emergency services."


The clinic, as part of a major campaign when it opened, had advertised complete family and pediatric services.


Patients who ask about compensation for membership fees are being referred to lawyers for Pepsi-Cola International, which owns part of Global Health, the client said.


Pepsi-Cola officials in charge of the Global Health project declined to comment on the medical clinic's closure.


Details on shutting Global Health still remain unclear. "Massive debt" left over from hefty start-up costs and meager revenues were reasons given to employees for closure, according to Roussel.


Karin Eskenazi, a media relations manager for the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York which jointly sponsored the venture with Pepsi and The United States-Russia Investment Fund, said a meeting among the partners next week will decide whether the Moscow clinic should declare bankruptcy.


She said she could not provide any information on the amount of investment by the partners, how much they have lost in the venture or the number of patients the clinic had.


An official at the American Medical Clinic, which is the clinic's chief competitor and is still involved in a lawsuit against Global Health for allegedly taking its customer lists, said that it will provide emergency and medical services to Global Health clients without requiring them to purchase new membership plans.


"For the interim we will cover [patients] like our own members," said AMC director Myles Druckman in a telephone interview from London.The grueling AMC-Global Health lawsuit has not entirely spoiled relations between the two clinics, he added. "There's no animosity on the clinical side. They're an excellent group of doctors."


An employment offer has been made to Global Health doctors and staff that were suddenly left "without any money" as a result of the decision, said Dennis Sokol, AMC's chief executive officer in Washington. "We're not interested in gloating. We'll try to help as many as we can."


A lawyer for AMC, however, said the company has no intentions of dropping its lawsuit against Global Health. "The suit will continue notwithstanding the closure of Global Health," said Garett Rasmussen. "We want damages for the injury suffered from the lost business that Global improperly obtained from us."


AMC lawyers charge that Global Health took its client lists in an attempt to put the older clinic out of business. Last March, after a series of court tussles, a North Carolina state court judge threw out an injunction preventing Global Health from soliciting AMC clients. AMC is appealing the decision.