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Inside the emergency room at University of New Mexico Hospital, patients lay on gurneys in the hallways because there weren't enough beds.

"We're really crowded," David Sklar, a physician in the emergency room, said Monday afternoon. "There's not a lot of room right now."

UNM Hospital has struggled with the crowding for years. But it was supposed to be alleviated during the weekend with the planned move into the new Bill and Barbara Richardson Pavilion.

After building inspectors found problems with the pavilion's emergency doors Thursday, the move was delayed.

Almost a week later, hospital officials still don't know when they will move into the $233.8 million building.

The hospital administration anticipates moving in by the end of the week, but it's not making any promises, spokesman Sam Giammo said.

"We will delay it until everyone is satisfied with the system and is happy with how it works," he said. "And that is the bottom line for us."

Some of the hospital's fire doors do not close when the alarm goes off, said Deborah Busemeyer, spokeswoman for the state Health Department.

"If the doors latch, it's an appropriate smoke barrier," she said. "But some of the doors aren't closing enough to latch."

The department also found problems with the entrance and exit doors, Busemeyer said. The doors are made to open when there is a fire.

"Not all of them unlatch," she said, "which means you wouldn't be able to get out."

Hospital officials don't know how many doors are malfunctioning, Giammo said. But contractors and hospital employees are working on the problem, he said.

When they are confident the emergency doors are working, the Health Department and fire marshal can inspect the building and issue a certificate of occupancy, he said.

The contractor is responsible for any cost to fix the doors, Giammo said.

He said the delay hasn't affected patient care.

The new six-story, 478,748-square-foot pavilion has an emergency room that triples the amount of floor space and number of beds. It will also have a maternity center and children's wing.

Sklar, the emergency-room doctor, said he is eaget to move into the new building, which has been under construction since 2004.

"We'll be light-years ahead" in patient care, he said.