Equipment stolen from UK hospitals for E Europe, Africa

LONDON - Criminal gangs are stealing expensive medical equipment from British hospitals to sell on the black market to eastern Europe and Africa, police and the health service's internal security department said today.

A hospital in York had 300,000 pounds worth of endoscopy equipment used for internal examinations taken in a recent raid, a spokesman for North Yorkshire police said, and a hospital in Leicester had other specialist equipment stolen.

"It is unlikely to be opportunistic thieves, it is more likely to be criminal gangs," the police spokesman said.

The University Hospital of North Durham also had a heart scanner costing 35,000 pounds taken, police said.

A spokesman for the NHS Security Management Service said they were working closely with the police and had advised hospitals on how best to protect their equipment.

"The theft of such equipment is deplorable and diverts much needed resources away from patient care," the spokesman said.

Detective Sergeant Judith Smith of North Yorkshire Police, who has been liaising with forces around the country, told the BBC she knew of 10 cases where medical equipment had been taken.

"There are quite a few similarities in the cases we have seen," she said. "It seems they are organised by groups or a group of individuals who know what they are doing.

"It is specialist equipment that has been taken and you would expect the thieves would have a market to sell them on to."

- REUTERS