Community-based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme (CEPEP) workers went to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital to speak with the administrative staff after finding dozens of syringes, tubes, vials of blood and insulin wrappers along the banks of the East Dry River, Port-of-Spain. CEPEP workers held a short meeting with senior staff members and aired their concerns. Ingrid Mullet, one of the workers, said she was cleaning the banks when she came upon the stash of syringes. "This is a serious thing and it spread out over the banks," Mullet said. Field Operations officer, Jahdavid Andrew, said, "This is unsafe for the workers and members of the public. We don't know if the hospital does or does not have a contract to move the waste."
Contractor for the area of the East Dry River Development Company Limited, Rhondell Allen, said the area was cleaned last December. "We are not pointing fingers but from the point of view it looks as if it was dumped here," Allen said. A senior member of the hospital staff said it was possibly stolen from the compound. "They are taking it and selling it. The bio-hazard waste is stored in a secure area but this is a public environment. It is a thoroughfare and there are employees, staff and the public passing through," he said. Attempts to contact officials at the Health Ministry proved futile.