Poor maintenance may have caused a 20-foot section of plaster ceiling to suddenly collapse at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Montrose Thursday.

The collapse injured two patients as they walked along a covered walkway connecting two buildings. A male patient suffered a broken leg and a female patient had minor injuries. Engineers say a lack of ventilation over the past 60 years caused dry rot in that section. U.S. Rep. John Hall is concerned the VA has not been providing adequate maintenance. Hall is on the House Veterans Affairs Committee and toured the site Friday.

?This just underscores the fact that our veterans? facilities have not been kept up, and why we needed to increase funding for maintaining them, which we did," Hall said. He adds there is now enough money available to the VA for adequate maintenance.

The Veterans Administration plans to move most services from Montrose to the VA hospital at Castle Point in Dutchess County. Hall wants to keep the hospital in Montrose as a primary place for veterans to get treatment.

However, Thursday's collapse raises questions about the amount of work required to make the needed repairs.

Related Information Two injured in ceiling collapse at Montrose VA hospital