OrBorJor hospital suffers another delay

RASSADA: In the latest snag in the saga of the re-opening of the old Phya Thai Hospital, one of Thailand’s leading interior designers, who has been commissioned for the project, presented interior plans for the five-story building and for only about half of the main building.

Wibool Tiramongkol, special instructor at the Faculty of Decorative Arts at Silpakorn University – Thailand’s premier institution for studying the arts – on June 30 presented his plans to the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) committee overseeing the project, headed by OrBorJor President Paiboon Upatising.

Khun Wibool presented interior-design plans for the entire five-story shophouse building at the site, but only floors one, two, three, seven, eight and nine of the main building.

“A contractor has won the bid to install the electricity, water and air conditioning with an offer of completing the work for about 170 million baht,” explained K. Paiboon.

“However, we haven’t signed the contract yet because the plans provided by the contractor do not match our existing plans, so we have to recheck the design and the work again,” he added.

Regardless, K. Paiboon expects the hospital to re-open by the end of 2009.

The new hospital, which is to be renamed the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) Hospital, aims to relieve overcrowding that has become an issue at Phuket’s main government hospital, Vachira Phuket Hospital in Phuket City.