A row over a hi-tech hospital incinerator heated up with an Opposition MP claiming Health Minister Nelson Bascome had been "misinformed'' over the cost of the new machine.

Shadow Health Minister Kim Young said: "Somebody is giving the Minister inaccurate information here.'' Ms Young spoke out after receiving written answers to Parliamentary questions to Mr. Bascome over the incinerator at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital in Paget.

Mr. Bascome told the House of Assembly during a recent debate that costs for the incinerator overan and it came in "millions over budget''.

But in the answers to the questions from Ms Young, Mr. Bascome said the authorised figure for the incinerator in 1997/98 was $1.4 million and that it came in under-budget at $1.3 million by the time it was up and running in 1998.

Mr. Bascome added: "The cost of the equipment purchase -- which remained at the original purchase price of $475,000 -- and the installation was completed within budget at $1.3 million.

He added: "Additional items including emission testing, performance testing and implementation of a preventative maintenance programme increased the actual expenditure to $1.6 million.'' Ms Young said: "In effect, it only came in over budget by $200,000 -- I assume that was because of the other things they added in to create a Central Utilities Plant, like chillers and gasses.'' Mr. Bascome added that the estimated annual running costs of the machine -- which handles biological waste from the hospital, doctor's surgeries and vets -- had not been included in the original capital budget.

But he said the annual running costs had now been projected at $700,000 a year -- although it had not been in full operation for a financial year yet.

The firm which runs the incinerator -- US-based Oxydation Technology -- denied Mr. Bascome's claim that the company which made the machine had gone bankrupt and that its installation was "a poor management decision''. Oxydation Technology vice-president Paul Severs said the company was no longer under the umbrella of multi-million dollar firm Harsco, but that there was no bankruptcy involved.

Ms Young said: "For the Minister to say it was millions of dollars over budget and that it was a bad decision is wrong.

"The people in the neighbourhood and the staff are thrilled because the pollution levels are so much lower than they were.

"What irritates me is when somebody says something which is totally inaccurate and it gets out there for people to think about.'' The saga took another twist after hospital engineer Neil Crane was booted from his job with an option to resign or be sacked -- because management were unhappy with his ability to manage projects and they claimed that the projects often came in over budget.

Mr. Crane is suing the hospital for unfair dismissal.

Ms Young got her written answers to the questions during last Friday's session in the House of Assembly, but was unable to answer supplementaries because the time allotted for questions ran out.

Nelson Bascome Kim Young