Brand new Sask. hospital in need of major repair

Mere months after opening, Saskatchewan Hospital North Battleford is already about to under significant repair work.

But taxpayers are being assured they won’t foot the bill because the facility was built as a public-private partnership.

Saskatchewan Health Minister Jim Reiter said on Wednesday that staff at the hospital noticed a leaky roof at the facility during the spring melt.

They contacted the organization responsible for the construction and maintenance of the facility, Access Prairies Partnership.

That company determined there was a problem with the modular roofing panels that had been installed; they had shrunk.

“This was an unforeseeable issue, a manufactured product that failed and it was just a situation that we couldn’t foresee and any of the experts could not have picked up during the construction phase,” said Kyle Toffan, CEO with Sask Builds.

But it means the entire roof will need to be replaced on a building that opened only in March.

“Because of the nature of the P3 agreement, taxpayers will not be responsible for any of the funding for any of this work that will be done,” Reiter said.

The minister said it still is not clear how long the reconstruction will take or cost, or even when exactly it will get underway. That will be determined within the next couple of weeks.

However, Reiter is confident the repairs will mean little disruption to residents at the facility.

“We’re expecting it will be done incrementally so that, while there may be some movement of residents within the facility, we’re hopeful nobody will need to be moved outside of the facility,” he said.