The breath of life

When it comes to medical facilities in Thailand, none is older or more renowned than Siriraj Hospital. Located in a dozen buildings spread over four city blocks in Bangkok, the facility has 3000 beds and one million outpatient visits a year, making it the busiest public hospital in the country. Imagine then the size and complexity of the contract BeaconMedæs, a part of the Atlas Copco Group, won in 2010 to replace Siriraj Hospital’s outdated medical gas source equipment used in a variety of medical treatments. The project was scheduled to take 12-18 months, with the added requirement that the facility remain open and fully functional for patients, including the country’s king (a full-time resident since 2009). “Most hospitals have gas source systems with one air plant, one vacuum plant, a few manifold control systems, four or five alarms and some control valves,” explains Steve Robinson, a medical gas specialist who worked fulltime on the project as Business Line Manager in BeaconMedæs’s South East Asia office. The Siriraj project, scheduled for completion in the fall of 2011, is far more complex – “a massive undertaking,” as Robinson says. It involves eight air and eight vacuum plants, each with multiple compressors, pumps, filters and control systems to supply medical, surgical and dental services in various buildings. The project also includes 18 manifold control panels for the supply of oxygen, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide.