HUMAN body parts placed inside plastic containers were found by residents along the river near the Bacolod Our Lady of Mercy Specialty Hospital (BOLMSH) in Barangay Mandalagan, Thursday.
The hospital management said the remains were stolen from their facility.
Dr. Jeremias Manuel Moscardon Jr., BOLMSH medical director, said that footage captured by a closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera showed unidentified men entering the facility Thursday morning and taking some items, including plastic containers that have human remains.
The containers are labeled with the names of patients, doctors, and the body parts inside.
“We’re supposed to segregate those containers, process, and dispose it properly,” Moscardon said in an interview with Aksyon Radyo Bacolod.
He said it is the hospital’s policy to dispose medical waste properly.
“We have a special area for our waste disposals,” he added.
“As doctors, we know how hazardous medical wastes are and we follow the rules of disposal,” Moscardon said, adding that waste disposal is being inspected, regulated, and strictly being implemented by the hospital management.
He said a security guard was manning the area, but the unidentified men entered the facility when the guard wasn’t looking.
The hospital chief appealed to residents near the hospital not to enter the facility as it is a hazardous area.
Dr. Grace Tan, chief of the Environmental Sanitation Division of the City Health Office, confirmed that those inside the containers are indeed human body parts.
“Based on the labels of the containers, (these contain) fallopian tubes and uterus,” said Tan, who went to the area Friday afternoon.
She said the City Health Office will refer the case to medico-legal officer Eli Cong.
Tan added that they will meet with the hospital management, and will then check if the BOLMSH committed a violation in the way they dispose human wastes.
“We can’t just dispose this anywhere because it may infect the residents,” she further said.