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The Canadian Vancouver Island Health Authority downplayed what employees described as a cockroach invasion of the medical units at Saanich Peninsula Hospital, calling on medical staff and nurses to remain calm, as these creatures “do not bite and do not transmit disease.”
Sources from the hospital told CTV News that “several patient rooms, the nursing station and the medication center were previously infested with cockroaches, with cockroaches crawling up the walls and hiding in washed linens,” and that the hospital administration asked staff to collect them.
Workers said they were “emotionally stunned” after finding these insects on patients’ bodies, noting that managers downplayed the importance of the matter, and that at least one manager denied their presence even though he had seen dozens of cockroaches in the hospital.
Later, a spokesman for the health authority in the region tried to downplay the importance of the matter, noting that “these cockroaches are known as German cockroaches” and that they are a category of “insects that do not bite and do not transmit disease.”
He added that a pest control contractor was immediately contacted, who visits the site twice a week to monitor the traps and provide advice.
The Health Authority subsequently confirmed that no cockroaches had been detected in the hospital since April 22, but pest control measures were still continuing.
For her part, the head of the British Columbia Nurses’ Federation, Adrienne Geyer, said: “What I heard was that cockroaches were climbing on the bed and curtains in patient rooms and were very visible, which is annoying.” She urged health authorities to take the situation seriously and try to determine the number of insects that had managed to invade that area of the hospital.
