The concrete structures over Mater Dei Hospital’s accident and emergency department are so weak in certain areas they cannot withstand the weight of two planned medical wards, tests have revealed.

The Sunday Times of Malta has learnt that even though the wards will now have to be relocated, immediate intervention works must be carried out to reinforce the structure over A&E to ensure its safety.

This unprecedented situation raises concerns that similar structural weaknesses could be present in other sections of the hospital and a detailed site investigation is being planned.

When contacted, Health Minister Konrad Mizzi confirmed that two core stress tests on the A&E had revealed the concrete was “significantly below standards and extremely weak in certain areas”.

Both tests revealed an unexpected lack of homogeneity across different floors of A&E, where the concrete was weak and below standard in some areas, but strong in others.

A third test has been carried out in the UK and its results should be out in the coming days.

“This will give a clearer indication of what needs to be done... but we anticipate the third test will confirm what the first two tests have revealed – that we cannot build atop A&E and before we even contemplate any development we have to establish that the current structure is safe. This is our priority,” Dr Mizzi said.

Mizzi: mitigation plan in place

“We already have a mitigation plan in place but we’re waiting for the third test to refine the plan and start intervention on A&E right away... there was never any outward visibility of cracks but we need to give everybody peace of mind,” he added.

Dr Mizzi said he was “totally surprised” by results of the core stress tests, because the state-of-the-art hospital had been certified that it met all the structural specifications and was built to resist earthquakes.

He insisted there had to be political, technical and contractual accountability and the government was bringing in the police to investigate. Forensic engineers are being engaged to help police with their inquiries and to look at the structure in its entirety.

“This needs to be done quickly because we don’t want to be carrying out reinforcement works and in turn dilute the evidence,” Dr Mizzi said. Asked if fraud was suspected, Dr Mizzi said it was impossible to say at this stage but he found it strange how all the certification was in place, yet some of the concrete was significantly below standards.

Giving an example of the lack of uniformity, Dr Mizzi said that in some places the concrete was super strong but in other areas one could simply crush it by hand.

“We saw this with our eyes. It’s worrying.”

Inaugurated in 2007, Mater Dei Hospital has been riddled with ailments since its inception with one of the core maladies being a shortage of beds. The two medical wards were intended to partially stem the problem by providing 68 beds.

A tender was awarded last April and the project is estimated to cost €11.2 million – 85 per cent of which will be covered by EU funds.

As part of the contract the winning bidder had to carry out stress tests, which is when the major concrete inconsistencies were exposed, putting EU funds in jeopardy.

However, Dr Mizzi said that as long as the medical wards were completed by June 2015 the funds would not be lost.

The government has earmarked two alternative sites where the medical wards could be built; however, he would not be drawn in specifying the exact location.

In a statement this afternoon, the government said it was working to establish what happened in the past and would be calling for political, technical and commercial responsibility to be shouldered.It said it would be consulting with the unions concerned throughout the process.

 

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