WASHINGTON - D.C. officials plan to close the District's five city-operated outpatient mental health centers and instead contract with private clinics to provide services, according to employees of one clinic.

At the Northwest Community Mental Health Center on Spring Road, employees say they've been told that this clinic and four others run by the city will be closed within nine months.

The patients will be shifted to private clinics, like Community Connections, a not-for-profit mental health center in D.C.

ABC 7/NewsChannel visited the clinic Monday, where there was a fight in front of the facility. One woman was treated for assault; two others were taken away by police.

Advocates like Robin Hodges object to the plan. She is both a patient and city employee hired to advocate for other patients, who are called consumers:

"City council, the mayor -- all of them, they see it more as a money, not a health issue," she said. "A lot of mentally ill people are just consumers themselves -- change is a big issue."

ABC 7/NewsChannel 8 has obtained a a draft analysis performed by KPMG, a consultancy, to review the city's mental health facility. It recommended closing city-run centers, moving more than 3,000 patients to private contractors.

The move would reportedly cut 263 employees.  It would also save an estimated $11-14 million a year, accoding to the analysis.

A union spokesperson said the employees are understandably upset by the proposal.

"They are extremely worried, especially in today's economic times," NUHHCE Union spokesperson Cynthia Perry.

A representative for the mental health doctors called it irresponsible.

"It means that those patients are in danger," Vanessa Dixon, a representative for doctors, said. "They're destabilized, they're a danger to themselves, they're a danger to others."

Patients and their families are also concerned, saying the big issue for people with mental issues is coping with change.

"My cousin, he don't like changin' up his doctor," said Deborah Winfield, a relative of a client. “That doctor been there all his life, he know what they doin'"

The mayor’s office prevented the D.C. Department of Mental Health from discussing the plan, reported ABC 7/NewsChannel 8’s Sam Ford Monday.

The department has begun issuing letters to clients, informing them of the changes. The department plans to hold meetings to help inform patients about the transition.