Investigation of structural defects in government hospital buildings in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Sri Lanka has a free of charge health care system heavily subsidized by the government. The national health system of Sri Lanka is guided by the concept ofthe welfare state. The major armed conflict, which started in 1983 came to an end in May 2009 affecting almost all the sectors in the whole country. At present, Sri Lanka aspires to become a higher middle income country. It faces the challenge of becoming a high performer in all sectors affected. Social health protection is hailed to be placed high on the national agenda. Within this context safety of built environment ofthe government hospital sector too is one ofthe most important matter and the upgrading ofaesthetic aspect ofthe built environment is also a long await need. A government hospital complex is a main component ofmajor cities all over the country. But the common perception of government hospitals is attributed to the unpleasant experience due to the poor condition of built environment rather than the valuable and highly committed service being provided free of charge to the society. This particular study was conducted to investigate structural defects in Government Hospital Buildings (GHBs). Government Hospitals in Western province were selected for visual observation and photographic survey based on convenience and by judgement ofthe fact that over utilization of hospitals in Western province. Also, it was highly important being aware ofthe local and international picture referring to past studies regarding the same area ofstudy. As the chiefstructural material ofmost ofthe GHBs is Reinforced Concrete (RC), attention was drawn to refer to cracking inherent to RC as well. Observations and information gathered were carefully reviewed. Direct and indirect causes of defects could be identified based on the historical data and the observations made. Further the attention was drawn on the current practice of Designing ofHospital Buildings in Sri Lanka and an attempt was made to find whether structural and performance issues identified and the maintainability aspect are addressed at the initial design stage. It was revealed that there is neither detailed registry ofGHBs nor detailed building audit ofdefects being earned out. The main reason for immerging poor quality building either by new construction or renovation work is the lack ofsupervision ofthe work by competent personnel. The Attention on setting up a well-structured Building Management Division which is entrusted clearly with the entire responsibility regarding the GHBs is identified as a necessity in upgrading the condition ofGHBs. A special attention on performance and maintainability aspect ofGHBs at the initial design stage has hardly been paid rather than adopting the common practice of designing of all' types of buildings. Despite the constraints in vertically expanding, the government hospital buildings observed are at an acceptable structural condition thus not requiring complete demolition.