Shock at medical waste discovery in Yellowwood Park
The nurse warned us not to touch anything as she rushed down to us. Her reaction as she was going through the content was scary
A ROUTINE clean-up of a thoroughfare between Swan’s Mile and Weaver Road in Yellowwood Park led to the shocking find of dumped medical waste including bloodied swabs and used equipment strewn across the busy pathway which leads to Havenside railway station on Thursday, 21 June.
Resident Marianne Marais whose gardener made the discovery, was horrified at what he was picking up and quickly got him inside to disinfect his hands to prevent any infection from the medical waste.
READ: Woodhaven resident decries illegal dumping
“It was a mess. We managed to fit everything into a big bag before moving it into my yard. I then called my neighbour who is a nurse. She warned us not to touch anything as she rushed down to us. Her reaction as she was going through the content was scary, especially when she said all of it can cause hepatitis,” she said. Her husband immediately contacted the health department who only arrived at their house on 29 June.
“Something needs to be done about this. It must be stopped. What if we weren’t there to pick it up and some curious school child or normal commuter frequenting the Havenside railway station picked it up or stepped on it?
Thank goodness there were no needles, or else it would have been disastrous,” she said.
Poking through the bag, the Sun immediately noticed the stench that indicated it had been lying around for a while. There were used and bloodied swabs, empty iodine bottles, used gloves and plastic aprons, empty boxes of HIV test kits and more.
“I would love some answers from the health department because this is not right. Someone needs to be reprimanded for this,” added Marianne.
The Sun emailed its queries to the city’s health department but had yet to receive a reply at the time of going to press on Monday, 2 July.
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