Hospital back to normal in a month

Star: KUALA LUMPUR: Six out of 24 operating theatres at Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (HUKM) are still closed pending decontamination.
HUKM director Prof Datuk Dr Mohamad Abdul Razak said yesterday that the six operating theatres would only be operational in a month, after it has been ascertained that the air in them is free of bacteria.
The hospital closed 10 of its operating theatres following the discovery on Dec 26 of a leak in its sterilisation network.
The leak in the autoclave piping system that sterilises utensils in the operating theatres has resulted in bacterial contamination of the water in the network.
“The hospital is now 10 years old and naturally subjected to wear and tear. We will evaluate the level of strength and quality from the hospital maintenance aspect, especially critical areas such as the operating theatres, to ensure it would not happen again,” he said, adding that HUKM would engage a consultant to enhance the hospital’s maintenance system.
Dr Mohamad said only 80 operations classified as “cold cases” – meaning they are not emergency or semi-emergency cases – have been delayed.
“We will reschedule the operations and hopefully the delay will not be more than a month,” he said