The Capital District Ambulance Service is accused of dumping medical waste in abandoned ambulances.  CBS6 has learned that DGS workers who were performing routine maintenance found bags of blood-soaked rags and dirty needles in a lot at 86 West Street.

Albany Fire Chief Bob Forezzi said that firefighters were called in to investigate, but he said that he didn’t want to put his firefighters at risk so he turned it over to the Department of Environmental Conservation.

http://www.cbs6albany.com/news/top-stories/stories/vid_800.shtml

This sort of incident, where wastes are left in abandoned healthcare establishments are not too uncommon. Hospital buildings are often shut down when there reach or exceed their sell-by date, to make way for newer and more efficient premises. Much equipment is left behind as the new unit is fitted out with new or upgraded equipment items. Everything else is dumped.

There may be an opportunity for effective recycling of this old equipment to assist in the provision of effective healthcare in less advantaged regions and their are many charitable organisations that will collect and ship these unwanted items.

What is left requires safe and effective disposal. I have been responsible for making safe two entire hospitals, one military and one NHS, each abandoned by their operators. What was left behind was shameful. Sharps containers and clinical waste sacks each containing wastes left where they stood, together with other potentially hazardous wastes and many items that might have found use elsewhere. We should do better that that.

Walking away from, rather than properly dealing with the problem of decommissioning, creates additional problems when the builders or demolition crews move in. Not surprisingly, in both of the cases I have been involved in builders took one look and walked off site, suspending work until I could provide a proper clearance certificate for every room. An expensive and time-consuming business, and one that should have been unnecessary had the site been decommissioned in a proper and professional manner.

Ian