Freak trade

When 51 percent of Tygerberg Hospital’s entire linen stock goes missing in a single year and taxpayers have to fork out R2,5-million to replace it, I say enough is enough. My final request to hospital staff is to stop the theft because we are going to come down on thieves like a ton of bricks. We will fine them, fire them and recover what was stolen.

The problem has been with us for many years. After going to great security lengths we thought we were starting to win. The 2000/2001 loss rate of more than R10-million came down in 2001/2002 to R5-million but in the period 2002/2003 we were up again to R7,3-million and it is still rising. The extent of the theft and the lengths people go to sell these items is unbelievable.