Building with fungus and leaky pipes still under warranty

Star: KUALA LUMPUR: Ampang Hospital’s contractors will have to rectify the problems in the building as it is still under warranty, said Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek.
During yesterday’s visit to Ampang Hospital, which is reportedly infested with fungi in its ceilings and had leaking sewage pipes, Dr Chua said new buildings were expected to have glitches.
“The warranty only expires in September, so all the problems will be repaired,” he told reporters after a briefing with hospital director Dr Zaidah Hussain and Selangor Health director Datin Dr Ang Kim Teng.
The RM404mil hospital, one of four built to reduce congestion at Kuala Lumpur Hospital, was meant to be the national reference centre for haematology cases.
Dr Chua said it was all right for fungi to grow in hospitals as long as it was not in sensitive areas such as the operation theatre, intensive care unit and cardiac care unit.
“We will close the place if there is fungus in sensitive areas, just like we closed Pandan Hospital (in Johor) because there was fungus in the operation theatre,” said Dr Chua, adding that at the moment there was no need to close Ampang Hospital.
He was commenting on two reports in The Star on Tuesday and Wednesday highlighting complaints from staff and patients that the hospital’s ceilings were fungus-ridden and that faeces fell from the sewage pipes.
Dr Chua explained that the ceilings in the paediatric clinic were fungus-ridden because the clinic was located below the intensive care unit, where the air-conditioning was set at a temperature between 18°C and 20°C and turned on24 hours a day compared with the clinic, which has its air conditioning turned on only eight hours a day.
He also urged the public not to have “fungus phobia” as many antibiotics such as penicillin and amphetamine were made from fungus.