The City Council on Wednesday urged the Boston Public Health Commission and Gov. Healey to declare a public-health emergency as a tool to keeping Carney Hospital in Dorchester open beyond the end of the month, when its bankrupt owner plans to close it.

Councilor John FitzGerald, one of the sponsors of the measure said an emergency declaration would help keep Steward open long enough to find a buyer willing to keep it open. And he said that despite Steward's assertions, there are groups that could and would keep the hospital open.

"There are folks interested in operating the Carney as a profitable, successful hospital that will provide care to our neighbors," he said. He did not provide details.

FitzGerald and Councilor Ed Flynn (South Boston, South End, Chinatown, Downtown) said the Carney's closing will be a crushing blow for Dorchester and for the city's Haitian and Vietnamese communities, who depend on it for care. But they warned its planned end will make it harder for people across the city to get emergency care - as the 30,000 people who now go to the Carney in an emergency will flow into the city's other hospitals.

Flynn said he's particularly worried about the impact on Boston Medical Center, which he said is already overloaded.

"Steward should never have been allowed to get away with what they did and it's time to put a foot down and say no more," Councilor Liz Breadon, whose district includes the Steward-owned St. Elizabeth's Medical Center, for which Steward says it has a buyer, said. Breadon and Councilor Ruthzee Louijeune both said what's happening is proof private capital should never be allowed near health care.

The council voted 12-0-1 for the resolution.

Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson (Roxbury) cast the one "present" vote. She said she agrees with the basic idea but that because the resolution calls for action by the BPHC, Mayor Wu and the governor, she said she was not comfortable voting without first holding a conversation with them.

Councilor Brian Worrell (Dorchester) said he would also prefer gathering with the other officials to figure out the next steps in saving the process.

FitzGerald responded that there's just no time for the typical meetings and hearings the council would normally hold. A bankruptcy judge in Texas yesterday approved shutting down Carney as part of Steward's bankruptcy. And the state has scheduled a hearing at Dorchester's Florian Hall on Aug. 13 to talk about the closure.

"They've got us over a barrel, to be quite honest," he said, referring to Steward.