The Western Cape Health Department is investigating after bags of medical waste belonging to Mowbray Maternity Hospital were found dumped on a field near schools and a creche in Capricorn.
The discovery was made on Tuesday while two Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) workers were cleaning the dumpsite in Dawn Road.
And what they found was shocking.
The two collected syringes filled with blood and fluids, pads soaked in blood, drips filled with blood and fluids, needles, medication, swabs and other medical waste, and put them into bags.
Among the waste was the hospital’s letterhead, which could be seen on forms, and worksheets with employees names on them.
HEALTH RISK: Injections, pille, pads and needles found at site
Stickers with patients names, identity numbers and patient numbers lay strewn in heaps for all to see.
The Daily Voice visited the dumpsite with the workers and community leader Mymoena Scholtz, who heads up a NPO named “Where Rainbows Meets”.
Mymoena says they are shocked and worried: “What if children had to find it and inject themselves with the ones filled with blood and medication?
“This poses a health risk. We need to find out how it got there, whether someone was contracted and dumped it there, and if the hospital is aware.
“This also poses a danger for the workers who had to remove it.”
CONCERNED: Mymoena
One of the workers says they immediately began placing the waste into bags: “We saw that it was not sealed and I have children of my own and thought this is very dangerous.
“There were fluids like blood inside syringes.
“The nappies women wear after birth were soaked in blood.
“Needles were lying in the open with fluid in them.
“There were drips and the hospital and patients names could clearly be seen.”
BLOODY MESS: Transfusion needle dumped
Mark van der Heever, the deputy director for communications for the Western Cape Health Department, said: “We are conducting a full investigation of all role-players involved in the disposal of waste once it leaves our premises, so that the parties guilty of illegally dumping medical waste can be held responsible for failing our communities by subjecting them to the risk of harm.”