The emergency department at the hospital is closed except for emergency cases that arrive by ambulance and where contact has been made with the reception beforehand, according to Region Norrbotten. A special team is on site to receive the patients.
According to the hospital, the water leak was discovered by a doctor during the morning.
Then water started pouring down on the emergency department and our intensive care unit (ICU). There were no patients there and no one was injured, but they chose directly to close the emergency department and intensive care unit, says Greta Sköld, chief of staff for the local special healthcare management.
According to Greta Sköld, the incident must be investigated, but the likely cause of the leak is a fire hydrant that broke.
There is a lot of water. It could be turned off, but by then the damage was already done.
The hospital has opened the Kalix health center in the same building to be able to receive patients seeking emergency care and the situation is described as stable.
We have always had a safe handling of emergency patients.
The region is also referring patients to the health centers in Haparanda, Överkalix, and Övertorneå, which are open extra hours.
It is unclear what damage the water leak has caused and the hospital has no prognosis for when operations can return to the premises.
We do not know how long it will take, so we ensure that we will move the emergency department and ICU from tomorrow.
