The management team who built the hospital's high tech waste disposal unit have denied the Health Minister's claim that it came in over budget and could be difficult to maintain.

Nelson Bascome MP said the company who made the bio-oxidiser had gone bankrupt leaving a team of four expats high and dry with no large company backing them up.

His comments in Friday's House of Assembly come hard on the heels of the forced resignation from King Edward VII Memorial Hospital of Neil Crane -- the engineer associated with ordering the plant.

Mr. Bascome was careful to avoid discussing Mr. Crane who is now suing the hospital for unfair dismissal.

And Mr. Bascome admitted it had been a decision taken by the whole board to get the new equipment.

Mr. Bascome said: "The decision to buy it was a poor management decision.'' However he added: "I'm not sure this should have been predicted, it was well on its way when I came into office.'' He said: "Costs overran -- there were added costs. It came in millions over budget.'' Paul Stevers the Vice President of Oxydation Technology Inc, who run the machine, denied this, claiming it had stuck to its budget of around $475,000 and was now worth around $1.8 million.

And he explained that although his company were no longer under the umbrella of multimillion corporation Harsco, there was no bankruptcy involved.

But Mr. Bascome said: "There are just four machines like this in the world.

We'll have to look elsewhere to find parts. It could be a problem in years to come.'' "They don't have anyone to report to -- they are running the machine by themselves.'' But Mr. Stevers said there wouldn't be a struggle to get parts if anything went wrong with the machine which reduces medical waste to carbon dioxide and water vapour.

He said parts would have been ordered from subcontractors as would have been the case if Harsco were still involved.

Mr. Bascome claimed "It's a state of the art machine but it goes way above what you need for this size of hospital should have as a machine.'' He said it was important there was a succession plan staff who were running the machine.

He said: "We should have Bermudians running the machine -- the expats can't be here for ever.'' Mr. Stevers said adverts had already been placed for two full-time staff and one part-timer to run the machine and he was hoping to recruit by January.

He explained the high-tech machine would be computer linked to the firm's US base in Maryland where he would be able to spot problems and suggest remedies if local staff were flummoxed.

People shouldn't panic just because the machine wasn't being maintained by a big company, said Mr. Stevers.

He said: "I believe it's a great machine with a great future. It's run without a glitch. The neighbours have complained -- but only to say why wasn't it built two years earlier?''