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Addicts steal hospital hand sanitizers
Healthcare Security Weekly, December 24, 2007
A Canadian hospital has been hit with an unusual round of thefts. Drug addicts are stealing hand sanitizer units from St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver because of the product's high alcohol content, reported the Vancouver Sun.
Thieves have ripped hand sanitizing dispensers from the walls. A hospital spokesman said the hospital found that an average of 18 dispensers and bottles of sanitizer have been vandalized or stolen every month since January. A security guard caught one thief with 10 bottles of sanitizer in his possession, which he planned to sell on the street, the spokesman said. A St. Paul's Hospital social worker recognized some of the containers when visiting patients in one area of the city.
The hand sanitizer is 70% alcohol in order to kill bacterial and viral pathogens. As a result of the thefts, the hospital has removed dispensers in some locations and stopped leaving individual bottles on counters, except in places like the intensive care unit or wards where wall space is limited.
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