Two children, aged 9 and 5, from the Nancefield suburb of Musina had to be rushed to the local hospital urgently after they reportedly got hold of a box containing medical syringes and needles, allegedly belonging to a diabetic patient.

The spokesperson for Musina Hospital, Mr Edward Malima, confirmed the incident, which occurred on Saturday at Nancefield. “Apparently, the two children were playing at an illegal dumping site when they spotted a box containing medical waste. They then injected themselves with the syringes, which were inside the box,” he said.

Soon after the incident, their mother took them to the Musina Hospital, where they found the STI clinic closed since it was a weekend. They were, however, given propadyllis, a drug used to neutralise infections.

The two children were again brought to the hospital on Monday and they were taken for voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) and they are expected to come back to the hospital after 28 days for review.

Malima, however, indicated that the situation was under control at the moment. He said under the country’s Health Act, it is illegal to dump medical waste everywhere as it poses a threat to health.

The latest development prompted the Department of Health in Limpopo to deploy health inspectors to investigate the circumstances sur-rounding the incident.