Hospital employee pleads guilty to theft

DUBAI // A Rashid Hospital employee has pleaded guilty to stealing medical supplies. The 34-year-old Filipino, SD, who worked in the hospital's supply department, appeared before the Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance yesterday. He has admitted to stealing boxes of Surgicel, a medicine used to control post-surgical bleeding, between February 25 and March 2 so that he could sell them on, according to court records.

The defendant, who was in charge of stocking surgical supplies and supplying them to the hospital's operating theatres, was arrested on March 2 after security guards noticed some medicines and supplies were missing after an audit. A security guard told prosecutors that when he asked the members of SD's department to produce their bags for checking, the defendant started panicking. "I found five boxes of surgical plasters on him."

The defendant then admitted stealing supplies for two weeks because he needed the money, adding that he had more in his home. Police searched SD's house the next day and recovered eight boxes of Surgicel. The blood clot-inducing material introduced into clinical practice in 1949, is also used by some boxers to stem fight-induced bleeding. The court will pass sentence on April 19. amustafa@thenational.ae