Wildbase Hospital build delay
The new surgical room would be about six times the size of the current room, and cameras would allow students to watch surgeries more closely.
Patients will have to wait longer than expected to visit the new Wildbase Hospital in Palmerston North.
The new hospital, based at Massey University’s Palmerston North campus, will be 10 times the size of the current site, but patients will have to wait at least two more months before nesting into the new building.
Massey University communications advisor James Gardiner said late building consents and heavy rainfall had caused construction delays.
The opening, planned for midnovember, was now scheduled for the end of January, 2017.
Wildbase director Brett Gartrell said it was taking a little longer than expected, but once complete the patients would reap the benefits.
‘‘We will be able to do better quality surgery on more patients,’’ he said.
The wildlife hospital currently helps about 500 patients a year, but Gartrell expected that to increase once the hospital was up and running.
It was hard to predict how many patients would come in at any one time, but the new space would cater to more of them, he said.
The new surgical room would be about six times the size of the current room, and cameras would allow students to watch surgeries more closely.
Although the space would be much bigger, no more staff would be employed in the short term.
‘‘We will try to manage it with the staff we have,’’ he said.
This included a team of eight, as well as students who would come in for learning purposes, Gartrell said.
Total cost of the new threestorey building was $9 million, with the Wildbase Hospital portion of it costing $1.7m.