KUALA LUMPUR: The Pusat Rawatan Islam (Pusrawi) Hospital, operated by a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Federal Territory Islamic Religious Council, is facing fungal problems on its building walls.
It had been recurring since 2010, five years after the hospital construction was completed in 2005. The hospital is managed by Hospital Pusrawi Sdn Bhd.
Pusrawi’s fungal problem was stated in the second series of the Auditor General’s Report 2018 on the management of federal government companies that was released today.
The report said a visit conducted by a team of auditors on Aug 15 found fungal growth on the walls and ceilings of a laundry room, Ar Rahmah ward and the health screening centre at the hospital.
In the second visit four days later, the team detected foul odour emanating from the Siti Khadijah specialist clinic at the hospital.
The audit report also noted the findings by an external engineer in June last year concluded that the fungal problem was triggered by the uncontrolled temperature and humidity due to lack of scheduled maintenance at the hospital buildings.
“Apart from lack of monitoring by the building maintenance contractor appointed by the council, the problem was also attributed to the failure of the building automation system.
“According to the management of the hospital, the system enables various facilities at the building to be monitored and controlled online and in real-time.
“Based on the report by the council’s action committee, the formation of fungus was detected since 2010, which was five years after the construction of the hospital completed,” the report said.
An evaluation report identified three causes which resulted in the formation of fungus. Beside the relative humidity in air supply which exceeded 70 per cent, the problem was also attributed to condensation on the walls and water leakages within the hospital buildings.
The audit report added that only two of the total four chillers supplying cold air to the hospital complex were found to be functional and this resulted in the condensation on the building walls.
“One of the two chillers was damaged since last year while the other was no longer operating. And only two of the total four variable speed drives in the operating chiller room was operating.”
The auditor report noted that council had agreed and approved RM3 million in provisions to resolve the problem based on the presentation by Pusrawi on May 22 and June 26 last year.
However, until August this year, Pusrawi had yet to receive the allocation from the council.
In a response to the Auditor General on Sept 25 and Oct 1, Pusrawi said the management of the hospital on Sept 27 had approved an allocation to upgrade the chiller system to resolve the problem.
“The management of the hospital also indicated that the e-perolehan process which began in October, would be completed between six and twelve months.”