An engineering marvel rising to house the heart ofNegombo Hospital
A bare area a month ago and now frenetic construction activity with two steel-framed buildings seemingly rising from scratch within the Negombo General Hospital premises.
Being described as an 'engineering marvel', these two of four buildings are due to be opened on Thursday (July 23) by President Maithripala Sirisena after which the very heart of the 785-bed Negombo Hospital will beat from within them.
Dubbed 'semi-permanent' structures, all the buildings costing Rs. 200 million, once completed can however be utilised for more than 40 years, the Sunday Times learns. The other two buildings are scheduled to be erected within the next three months.
These very buildings sound a note of censure to the earlier 'main', seven-storey hospital building, from which emergency evacuations of patients were carried out in the last week of May. Built 14 years ago and costing Rs. 900m at that time, it housed the surgical, medical, ear-nosethroat and eye wards as well as the preliminary care unit (PCU), clinics, outpatients department (OPD), operating theatres and intensive care units (ICUs) as well as laboratories and technical support units such as the X-ray department.
However, after numerous complaints by the hospital authorities of multiple danger signals, the Moratuwa University's Department of Civil Engineering was called in to assess the flaws. After that, emergency evacuations had to be carried out, sending the Negombo Hospital into crisis.
When the Sunday Times visited Negombo Hospital on Monday, gangs of workers, about 100, were being deployed while cement mixers were rolling into the premises, building levels were being measured and a crane was at work. The gangs include steel, concrete, masonry, reinforcement, plumbing and tiling workers. It is mid-morning but there is no lull in the work, as glasses of steaming tea with milk are passed around along with buns, to be gulped down on the run.
Two groups have undertaken this Herculean task:
*The Consultancy Group - This comprises personnel drawn from the Moratuwa University's Department of Civil Engineering working under the instructions of Senior Professor and Engineer Thishan Jayasinghe. He is ably supported by Civil Engineers Dr. Sujeewa Lewangama & Dr. Udeni Navagamuwa and Design Engineer N.S.A. Wanigaratne and two young site engineers.
* The Contractor Group - This is from the State Development and Construction Corporation and operates under General Manager (GM) Engineer M.D.S. Wijebandara and Deputy GMs, Engineer Waruna Weerathunga (Mechanical Department) & Engineer M.S.A. Shakoor (Civil Engineering Department). On site are Chief Engineer (Construction) K.A.U. Ranjan; Project Manager, Engineer K.S.M.R. Priyadharshana; Construction Engineers W.D.S. Banduwewa & V.K. Wannisinghe and five other civil engineers.
On-site, the Sunday Times learns that three of the buildings which are two-storeys would be 42mx15m each and the fourth, a three-storey building, 22mx12m.
"To accelerate construction work, the designers decided on steel buildings," says Mr. Ranjan, adding that what is being used is the pre-cast slab system. The walls and partitioning too are different to the usual brick and block work.
It is a young engineer from the Consultancy Group, A.M. Upendra, who gets down to nuts and bolts to explain that the buildings' exterior which is exposed to the environment is of zinc-alum sheets, while for the interiors, both walls and ceiling, the technology being utilised is durrapanels. "The durra panels are made of compressed straw for thermal insulation as well as to be soundproof. It is very comfortable within such buildings," he says.
Mr. Upendra also says that the support from the hospital authorities and staff is unstinting.