Chile launches tender to rebuild flood-damaged hospital

The flood-damaged Licantén hospital in Chile’s Maule region will be rebuilt in a new location under a 21.5-billion-peso (US$22.8 million) contract tendered by the public works ministry’s (MOP) architecture division.

The new 4,950m2 structure will be placed above the flood level of the Mataquito river, which burst its banks last year and caused parts of the original hospital to be submerged under 2m of water.

Patients had to be treated in tents for months, and in February a modular hospital was opened in a plot of land was provided by local pulp firm Arauco on a temporary basis.

The new hospital is meant to be a definitive solution to this issue. 

The main building will be four floors high, plus an underground level. It will have an emergency wing, a pharmacy, laboratory and storage facilities, among other features.

Technical bids will be opened on March 14, while economic offers will be opened on June 9. 

The technical documents can be seen here, in Spanish.