The Fine Arts Department (FAD) has stepped in to save two historic buildings at Phuket's Vachira Phuket Hospital from demolition to make way for a new highrise building to house patients.
FAD director-general Anandha Chuchoti said his deputy will inspect the sites today and map out a conservation plan.
The move came after medical staff voiced opposition to plans to demolish the two old abandoned buildings built in 1921 and several trees that are more than 100 years old.
The demolition plan is part of a scheme to pave the way for a new building project valued at about 300 million baht. The building will increase the hospital's patient capacity.
Under the project funded by the Public Health Ministry, an eight-storey building with 298 patient beds will be constructed. Of all beds, 16 are allotted to ICU, 84 to special patient rooms and 198 to the general patient section.
Hospital director Jessada Chungpaibulpatana said currently the hospital's bed occupancy rate is at 105%, forcing a number of patients to be put on the waiting list for hospital admission.
The objective for the new project is to cope with a recent surge in patient numbers, she said.
Weerasak Lorthongkham, one of the medical staff who opposed the project, said a hospital inspection team earlier proposed two locations suitable for the project: An area where the hospital's laundry, kitchen and saline solution buildings were located; and an area behind the Nom Klao Building where the old buildings and trees were situated.
The hospital later agreed to construct the new building at the first location. However, after the budget was approved, the hospital announced in July that the project will be launched in the second location instead.
Dr Weerasak said about 80% of hospital personnel disagreed with construction in the second area, and added he was in the process of gathering names of people who opposed the project to submit to hospital executives. He also suggested the hospital transfer patients to other hospitals to reduce its burden.
The structure of the new building should be designed to fit in with the existing environment instead of destroying nature and hospital history, Dr Weerasak added.
He said the new building will be used instead of an existing three-storey surgical building which will be demolished.