Welding repairs have been needed on some of the seismic steel imported to build the Acute Services Hospital building in Christchurch.
The Ministry of Health said a maximum of 65 tonnes of nodes had defects, a small fraction of 6600 tonnes of steel being welded into frames in Thailand.
Testing lab SGS picked up the defects in the initial shipment, which had missed out on testing in Thailand due to ship timings.
About 4500 tonnes of steel has now been delivered, with the rest due by the end of the month.
The awarding of the huge tender offshore by the Australian builder of the hospital, C-P-B, upset New Zealand steel fabricators.
