Chairs at Oulu University Hospital to be replaced before opening due to manufacturing defects

A significant portion of the new Oulu University Hospital’s chairs, set to be inaugurated this Wednesday, must be replaced before the hospital opens. According to Kaleva, approximately 1,200 of the 6,000 chairs will be replaced over the next two weeks due to manufacturing defects. Concerns were raised over the summer when it was discovered that some chairs were overly flexible, said Kari-Pekka Tampio, program director of the OYS 2030 reform project, in an interview with Yle.

One chair has already broken, and another produced unusual noises, leading to the decision to send both chairs back to the factory of the supplier, Isku, for examination. “A quality deviation was noticed in one production batch. The structure of the chairs did not meet the standards,” Tampio explained.

In response, Isku has preemptively replaced all 1,200 chairs from that production run. Tampio praised the furniture company for taking responsibility for the costs associated with this issue. “Isku has confirmed that they haven’t encountered a similar issue recently.”

Despite multiple setbacks over the more than ten years of the project, which boasts a total budget of approximately 1.6 billion euros—including a significant water damage incident a few years ago—Tampio noted that the hospital’s A and B buildings have remained under budget. “So far, we can say that we have been successful in managing risks,” he remarked.