Water pipe break in Hamburg Asklepios clinic

After breaking the water pipe in the Asklepios clinic, the emergency room was put back into operation

09/10/2012

Two houses of the Hamburg Asklepios Clinic in the St. Georg district were submerged by a broken water pipe. Affected by the water pipe break was also the emergency room of the hospital. As a result, some departments had to be temporarily closed, as the hospital administration announced. This morning, the emergency room is open again. As a result, assessors will examine the damaged clinic buildings for damage and cause. The results should be announced at the earliest this evening.

As a spokesman told the clinic was „After the water pipe breach last night, the Central Emergency Room (ZNA) was closed until about 10 pm because of the fire brigade's rescue work. Since late in the evening, ZNA has gradually resumed its work and has been back in operation since the night.“

Defective water supply causal
The reason for the large-scale deployment of the fire department was a defective water pipe. A water pipe with a circumference of about 10 centimeters in diameter had burst. As a result, water penetrated the basement and subsequently into two buildings of the privately operated clinic. Due to the damage of the water pipe, a 1000 cm long and 2000 cm long crater was created. As a result, the water leaked between the two houses. The central emergency room is located in one of the affected hospitals. In the other building is the dialysis facility. However, at least the dialysis station was not operated at night. Emergencies had to be transferred to other hospitals due to the closed ward. As a result, two elevators could no longer be used because the elevator shafts were full of water. Also, the intensive care unit had to be closed during use.

Experts inspect damaged buildings
„Today, surveyors and technicians visit affected buildings and grounds during the morning. Further information (about the amount of damage) can not be expected before the afternoon.“, so the clinic. A serious impairment of the clinic operation did not exist, according to the fire department spokesman Hendrik Frehse on site.

The use of the fire department took about three hours. „We pumped out about 300 cubic meters of water“, said a Hamburger fire department spokesman. According to the fire department, a total of 50 task forces were on site. Injured or injured patients did not exist according to current knowledge. (Sb)

Image: s.media