Hong Kong - Hong Kong police will begin sifting through
tonnes of clinical waste next week at a landfill site to try to find
the body of a baby boy lost three weeks ago by mortuary workers at a
Hong Kong public hospital.
A spokesman said Friday that officers from the Police Tactical
Unit wearing protective gear on Monday would begin searching the
rubbish, some of it potentially hazardous waste containing human
tissue and laboratory waste.
However, hopes are slim of finding the body of the premature baby,
who died soon after birth on December 15.
The baby's body disappeared after mortuary workers at the Pamela
Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital put him in a compartment with a
large man. The man's body was released on December 19.
Staff discovered the baby's body missing during a routine count a
week ago.
The mortuary workers have been sharply criticized by a top health
official for waiting three days to report the loss of the body to the
police and hospital authorities.
The blunder is the latest in a series by Hong Kong hospitals and
comes the same week that another Hong Kong public hospital admitted
serious errors in failing to send medics to treat a dying man who
collapsed on the hospital's doorstep. The hospital's receptionist
told the man's father to dial for an ambulance, refusing even to ring
the emergency services number for him. The 56-year-old man later
died.
USA
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