Oulu hospital restarts urgent tender for temporary facilities

Oulu University Hospital is restarting its procurement of temporary facilities as indoor air quality problems in older buildings risk disrupting services, Yle reports.

The previous procurement was halted in August after a complaint was filed with the Market Court over a planned 33 million euro modular hospital. The North Ostrobothnia wellbeing services county, Pohde, said the decision to cancel was influenced by shortcomings in the tender documents and changing operational needs.

Pohde’s regional board decided on Tuesday to launch a new open tender after revising the procurement. The contract will be awarded based on the best price-quality ratio.

The temporary facilities are intended to keep specialist medical services running safely until the hospital’s C building is completed in 2031. They are planned for Aapistie 8, next to the university hospital, and will serve the kidney and dialysis unit, the dermatology outpatient clinic, and the internal medicine and pulmonary disease outpatient clinics.

The approximately 2,700-square-metre premises will be built from modular units so they can be removed when no longer needed. Pohde plans to rent the building from a finance company for 15 years and then buy it for an agreed price.

Construction of the new hospital began around the turn of the decade, but some hospital buildings dating from the 1970s remain in use. Indoor air quality problems have been found in parts of the older buildings.