Hospital switches off to prepare for millennium

By Vanessa Bidois

HAMILTON - Blame the Y2K bug when you take the stairs at Waikato Hospital tomorrow.

Most lifts will not be working as the Hamilton hospital shuts down the power to test its generators in preparation for the millennium dawn.

Brendan Hague, the leader of the Health Waikato Year 2000 Project, said yesterday that contingency plans for New Zealand's second-largest health service were going well.

Each of the clinical divisions now had a Y2K planning committee and auditors yesterday checked on progress for a report to the State Services Commission.

Mr Hague said smaller hospitals in the region, including Thames, Tokoroa, Te Kuiti and Taumarunui, had completed their Year 2000 preparations.

Bob Duncan, the manager of operations and engineering at Health Waikato, said the test run between 8 am and 2.30 pm would not affect essential services.

Meanwhile, Hamilton residents have been assured that services such as water and wastewater should not be severely affected by the Y2K problem.

Ray Pooley, the emergency manager for the Hamilton City Council, said the city's main systems would be fully prepared by the end of next month.

A group of councils and key agencies from throughout the Waikato have been coordinating Y2K planning.

The group believed predictions of widespread disaster were highly exaggerated, and had launched a resource pack on Y2K readiness.