Medical documents and hospital equipment end up on a Halloween bonfire in Drimnagh.
At a bonfire on Dolphin Road where children had gathered to celebrate Hallowe'en boxes containing hospital equipment and documents were dumped this evening. Parents became concerned when a child returned home with surgical scissors and tweezers he had picked up, and promptly removed the rest.
Myself and my mother went over and picked it all up...took it off the children.
The waste expert from Dublin Corporation who was dispatched to the scene confirmed that the items had been transported by a medical equipment supply company, and that some of the documents related to Waterford Regional Hospital and the Midlands Health Board.
According to Eurosurgical the company in question the equipment had been certified as decontaminated, and had unintentionally been housed with old paperwork which did not contain patient information. A spokesman from the company said that they would pay the litter fine, and that the driver mistakenly thought he was helping the children by dumping old documents on their bonfire. Eurosurgical apologised unreservedly for any concern caused by the incident.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 31 October 2001. The reporter is Anthony Murnane.
