Medical waste, including human parts and bloodied hospital gowns, was left “baking” inside shipping containers off the hospital grounds, according to sources close to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.The biomedical waste was kept at the special waste facility at Sally Port at Dockyard, sources told The Royal Gazette, after KEMH’s specialised incinerator broke down several weeks ago.International standard practices for biomedical waste state that hazardous waste must not be kept at room temperature beyond 24 hours, one source told this newspaper, adding: “They definitely should not be sitting in a container in high heat for a month. This breaks every standard of practice for handling biomedical waste.”Recent temperatures have climbed close to 80F.Human parts can range from amputated limbs to organs and tissue samples from autopsies, miscarriages and birth waste. Soiled dressings and bandages are also considered pathological waste.Other hazards include infectious waste from patients with HIV and hepatitis, and materials from surgeries and laboratories.The KEMH “bio-oxidiser” normally reduces such medical waste to ash — along with all “sharps”, as discarded needles, razors and catheters are known by staff.According to a hospital spokesperson, the machine is now back in commission, and the West End storage was the safest option available during the wait.However, persons familiar with hospital procedure spoke anonymously to this newspaper, fearing that the backlog of waste presented a serious hazard to workers.“You can’t have body parts in containers,” one said. “That stuff has got to be secure, especially needles. That’s why they should have contingency plans. The staff who will have to open up the containers want hazmats.”A hazmat suit is a full-body protective garment.Another source told us that up to as many as eight shipping containers, several of which are believed to be new, have been stored over the course of roughly a month at Sally Port, adjacent to Snorkel Park“Of the eight containers, there are four new containers. They all contain hazardous and biological waste such as human parts, contaminated needles, bloodied gowns and all the blood-saturated material from the operating room surgeries.“They are baking and incubating inside these containers, in cardboard boxes that will wilt under the extreme temperatures and will then have to be brought back and re-boxed by handlers. Heaven forbid if during this process someone unsuspecting gets stuck by a contaminated syringe.”The source also questioned how the shipping containers would be dealt with afterward.“My other concern is that since the four blue containers are brand new, what will become of them after being in contact with the contaminated waste material?“Are they going to be put back in circulation to then transport our food, produce and goods to the local stores?”Biomedical waste is bagged and boxed each day at the hospital.The Paget facility generates large volumes of it, according to individuals familiar with the procedure.The Royal Gazette was told: “Each container takes more than 100 boxes. In a day, they can burn 2,000 lbs of the stuff.”Storage units could be seen outside the hospital, which are understood to be permanent on-site.A dozen shipping containers could also be seen this week on the Sally Port grounds, although their purpose or contents could not be identified.Asked for comment, a Bermuda Hospitals Board spokesperson said the incinerator had been out of commission for several weeks while custom parts were built.“Unfortunately, given Bermuda’s size, there is no other solution for medical waste processing on-Island. While repairs were carried out, a temporary solution was needed to store the waste until it could be processed. Following discussion with multiple government departments, including Works and Engineering and Environment, it was agreed to temporarily store it in sealed containers at Sally Port.”Added the spokesperson: “This was certainly not, nor was it ever meant to be, a viable long-term solution, but it was the safest way to store the waste while the maintenance was undertaken. These containers will now be appropriately processed by the bio-oxidiser.”The machine was described as “a specialised piece of equipment that BHB uses to incinerate biomedical waste. Biomedical waste includes materials that have been in contact with blood, and equipment such as used IV tubing, suction canisters, and haemodialysis products, and it requires special processing techniques to dispose of it safely”.The spokesperson said: “BHB is in the advanced stages of sourcing replacement technology to ensure that in the future Bermuda will not have a single point of failure for disposing of biomedical waste.”Useful website: www.bermudahospitals.bm.