Fresh black eye for Hospital Authority

At least five concrete slabs fell from the ceiling and crushed a computer and a printer on a table in a consultation room in a pediatric and teen psychiatric ward at Kwai Chung Hospital in the early hours yesterday.

The Hospital Authority also just announced the collapse of a down ceiling panel in a male toilet at Tuen Mun Hospital last May, taking the number of reported public hospital mishaps to five - including three ceiling collapses - within a month.

Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors former president Vincent Ho Kui-yip said the frequent hazards in public hospitals suggest the buildings may have reached "an aging peak."

Currently, more than half of 43 public hospitals were constructed over 30 years ago, while some hospitals are at least 60 years old.

The mishap at Kwai Chung Hospital was revealed at around 9am, with two photos showing a down ceiling panel and at least five concrete chunks - with the largest one measuring 30 centimeters long and wide - scattered on an office table.

Kwai Chung Hospital chief executive Desmond Nguyen Gia-hung said medics at the pediatric and teen ward on the first floor of Block L heard a loud bang at about 3.30am. They soon found that the noise had come from concrete chunks that fell in one of the diagnosis rooms, with debris landing within an area of around 1.5 meters long and wide.

"No one was using the consultation rooms so there are no casualties," Nguyen said. "We're investigating if it is related to water seepage."

He said medics immediately evacuated 15 patients in the ward and checked the ceiling with tools like humidity meters.

"A consultation room next door had an unstable concrete structure too," he said. "The rooms have been cordoned off."

Although the hospital is undergoing reconstruction - with the first phase completed in 2018 and second phase ongoing - Nguyen said the particular ward, built in 1981, has not been renovated since then.

The authority's director for strategy and planning Ching Wai-kuen said maintenance and repair works at all 43 public hospitals were conducted by Fujitac Construction & Engineering Consultants, whose two-year contract with the authority expires in November. That means the firm was also responsible for checks at Castle Peak Hospital, where an A4-sized concrete chunk fell on a vacant bed last November, caused by water seepage on the floor above.

But Ching said Fujitac stated that everything was fine in its report from the last inspection in November 2021.

"We've stepped up with supervision on the contractor," Ching said. "We will refer the case to regulatory bodies if we find any procedure violations."

HA chief executive Tony Ko Pat-sing said the authority has formed a six-person committee to review all medical equipment and facilities in public hospitals within a month and provide advice on maintenance in three months.

Chaired by veteran surveyor Wan Man-yee, the committee comprises of experts in engineering, surveying and corporate communications.

Members include power giant CLP's chief corporate development officer Quince Chong Wai-yan, medical and health services sector lawmaker David Lam Tzit-yuen, former director of architectural services Sylvia Lam Yu Ka-wai and veteran engineers Billy Wong Wing-hoo and Tong Wing-shing.

The committee will review three types of hospital facilities - medical equipment hanging from ceilings, internal and external structures of buildings - with priority given to areas with reported water seepage and spots near vibrating machinery.

Meanwhile, a Tuen Mun Hospital spokesman said part of a down ceiling in a male toilet in the radiotherapy building collapsed in the afternoon on May 30 last year. No one was hurt.

The hospital believed the cause of the collapse was due to metal fatigue in the down ceiling's frame.

jane.cheung@singtaonewscorp.com