Scores of used catheter bags have been found dumped on a field in Delft and community leaders are now calling for it to be removed citing a health hazard.
Community Development Worker, Gadija Francis, says on Monday she was alerted to the empty bags lying on a heap of vullis along Topland and Voorbrug streets in Delft.
AWARE: Gadija Francis. Photo: Supplied
Gadjia says angry residents believe the medical waste may have been dumped by relatives of a sickly person who is using home-based dialysis.
This would usually be used in the case of someone who suffers from renal failure.
However, residents suspect the bags could also come from the local day hospital and has asked authorities to investigate.
“I was notified by an elderly resident who is concerned as this is a health risk to them and the children who play on this field,” says Gadija.
“These are the catheter bags which patients use when they have kidney failure.
“When I saw these bags, I immediately took photographs of them to alert the newspaper as the health department needs to know about this.
“This was dumped on this field. There is a suspicion from the community that it may belong to a resident who is ill or it could be from the day hospital.
“These bags you can see were used already as there are brown stains on them.”
The brown stains could be blood as the catheter used in the dialysis is inserted into the vein to clean and drain the blood.
SUSPICION: Discarded bags may belong to a sick resident. Photo: Supplied
Mark van der Heever, spokesman for Western Cape Government Health, says they will be notifying the necessary departments to dispose of the waste and to investigate where the bags come from.
“However, our facilities do have waste disposal contracts in place to discard of medical items.”