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SYDNEY - A former doctor at Sydney's Royal North Shore Hospital complained to hospital management about cockroaches on operating tables during surgery, an inquiry has heard.
Nationals state MP Jenny Gardiner has told the parliamentary inquiry the allegations were made in a submission from a doctor who worked at the hospital for 16 years before resigning this year.
"One of our submitters has been a doctor at the hospital for ... around about 16 years, resigned this year," Ms Gardiner told the committee.
"He refers to the killing of live cockroaches on operating theatre tables during operations and 'no response when I forward a written complaint and response is requested'."
NSW Health Minister Reba Meagher, who was among the first witnesses to be called before the inquiry, such a case was unacceptable.
"That is why the new management has responded to concerns of staff at the hospital and ordered a complete clean of the hospital," Ms Meagher said.
Contract cleaners were sent into the Royal North Shore Hospital on the eve of a tour of the facility by the parliamentary committee.
Ms Meagher has denied the clean-up was an attempted cover-up, saying it was done after a request by staff and had been arranged before the committee indicated it would visit.
- AAP
