While 7NEWS was at the city’s morgue our crew’s attention was also drawn to another area of concern. Although the compound has a manned security booth and fence we noticed that not all visitors to the dead house have been using the proper entrance to gain access. Some have been entering the compound by slipping through the fence. Not a huge deal, but what is concerning is that one of the individuals we saw using the illegal entry was an elderly man who just wanted to get his hands on the morgue’s garbage collected just across from the main building. Sounds like a major public health concern but the man told our crew that he was only carting away empty and discarded boxes and that he was not concerned about his own health.
However 7NEWS was informed that for sometime now hospital authorities have been told about the situation but nothing has been done to fix it. When we contacted the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital’s public relations officer Gary Ayuso, he said that it was the first time he heard about the complaint but that he would look into the matter. Ayuso did emphasize however that they do have a coded garbage disposal system in place and only non hazardous material is stored in that area and discarded in green plastic bags. Ayuso says all their infectious waste is placed in red plastic bags that are not stored at the site but taken away by Belize Waste Control Limited so there is no need for public health concern.
