‘It could have been catastrophic’: Woman in custody for alleged gas sabotage at two Sydney hospitals

1 day ago 3

A woman is in police custody after two Sydney hospitals were allegedly sabotaged on Tuesday morning, affecting their medical gas and water mains.

Officers were told a 42-year-old woman had allegedly cut both water and gas mains and activated fire hoses at Kareena Private Hospital, Caringbah, in south-east Sydney about 12.20am on Tuesday.

Health Minister Ryan Park has spoken about the alleged vandalism at Sutherland Hospital on Tuesday morning.

Just over an hour later, the woman allegedly scaled a wall at Sutherland Hospital and switched off the hospital’s gas main, Health Minister Ryan Park said.

“The cause of the loss of gases is alleged to be deliberate sabotage,” Park said.

The hospital had to switch to portable oxygen and air as part of its contingency plans, and had restored the gas systems about two hours after the alleged vandalism.

“It could have been catastrophic,” Park said.

“You have people on medical gases who are receiving treatment who are very, very unwell,” he said. “If someone is going to tamper with that, then the outcome could have been very, very serious.”

Police arrested the woman just before 4am on Parkside Avenue, Miranda, for breach of bail and took her to Sutherland Police Station, where inquiries are ongoing, NSW Police said.

“I want to assure the community there was no impact to patient care and that the system has returned to operating as per normal,” he said.

“Access to gas systems in NSW public hospitals is restricted,” Park said, adding health authorities would review the incident to see what improvements can be implemented.

“If there [are] things we need to do to make it harder or more restrictive, then we will look at that,” he said.

More to come.