Tufts Medical Center is set to close its 128-year-old, 41-bed pediatric ward by July, and Tufts nurses represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA), the largest nurses’ union in the state, are not happy about it.

The union organized a rally outside Tufts Children’s Hospital Tuesday afternoon to voice their discontent with the move by Tufts leadership.

“We’re taking away 41 very essential beds, and that’s only magnified by the daily calls that we receive from Children’s Hospital, and other hospitals in the state trying to transfer children in,” Mary Cornacchia, a Tufts nurse and representative with the MNA, told WBZ-TV.

Tufts has said that it plans to partner with Boston Children’s Hospital to make sure all current pediatric patients still get the care they need, but in a statement about the rally, the MNA said that not all of Tufts Children’s Hospital services are offered at Boston Children’s Hospital, and that care at Boston Children’s is more expensive.

“At this point, the closure date is almost a secondary concern,” Cornacchia said in an MNA news release. “Because no matter when it happens, the shuttering of this unit will be a terrible loss for the people who have come to rely on its services.”

Tufts has cited a lack of pediatric patients as the reason for closing the ward, but WBZ-TV reported that patients at Boston Children’s have noticed the hospital being full to the brim with patients, especially in the emergency department.

“There are going to be children sitting and just languishing in emergency departments not getting the correct treatment that they need once this closure takes place,” Cornacchia told WBZ-TV.

Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn also voiced his disappointment at Tufts Children’s Hospital closing in the MNA news release.

“It is truly sad to see the closing of pediatric beds at Tufts Medical Center,” Flynn said. “This pediatric hospital has been an anchor institution serving our children and families in Chinatown and elsewhere for generations.”

Tufts offered a statement on the rally:

“The decision today to honor the history of this great institution and the many children Tufts Children’s has served over the years is one we both understand and respect. While we intend to retain the Neonatal ICU and pediatric outpatient services, the closing of our other inpatient units and active treatment oncology services at Tufts Children’s Hospital was an extremely difficult decision, and we share the heartfelt emotions of our nurses and team members throughout the Medical Center.”

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