The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     The spokesperson for Tuen Mun Hospital (TMH) made the following announcement regarding the water leakage of fire service sprinkler metal pipe today (February 29):

     The TMH has found water leakages from a segment of fire service sprinkler metal pipes installed above the false ceiling of an operating theatre on the 9th floor and another unopened operating theatre on the 6th floor of TMH Operating Theatre Extension Block (OTB) on February 18 and 22 respectively. The hospital immediately arranged for urgent repairs and the presence of small holes in the metal pipe was revealed during a thorough inspection by the technical staff. The Hospital Authority (HA) has appointed an independent expert to investigate the cause of the incident.

     The spokesperson for TMH stated, "The hospital is very concerned about the incident and has arranged technical staff to conduct inspection of similar metal pipes in the other operating theatres in the building. Small holes were found in the similar metal pipes of another two unopened operating theatres. There are 22 operating theatres in the TMH OTB and so far no similar situation was found in other operating theatres. The latest annual inspection of the fire system was completed in December 2023 and no abnormalities were reported."

     The HA Head Office had immediately appointed an independent expert to re-examine the metal pipes after receiving report of the incident from TMH. Preliminary examinations by the independent expert revealed that the small holes appeared at the weld seam joints of the metal pipes, and is investigating whether the same situation occurs in the same batch of metal pipes. A formal report will be submitted later.

     The HA is very concerned about facility construction quality and the incident. The HA has instructed the project consultant to write to the main contractor, requesting for submission of a report in accordance with the contract, providing detailed account of whether the pipe materials comply with relevant standards and ensuring the quality of the project. The HA has requested the main contractor to replace the defective fire service sprinkler metal pipes as soon as possible without affecting the clinical services of the hospital, to ensure the system work efficiently and not to pose additional risks to the hospital safety so as to ensure the safety of patients and staff.

     No operation services in TMH was affected so far. TMH will flexibly adjust the use of operating theatres where necessary to ensure that services are not affected.

Ends/Thursday, February 29, 2024
Issued at HKT 23:11

NNNN