Baltimore inspector common finds long-dead rat, bugs and different persistent issues at city-run sexual well being clinic – Baltimore Solar

A lifeless rat carcass that languished untouched for 2 years, {an electrical} panel room filled with cardboard and visual rodent droppings have been just some of the issues the Baltimore Metropolis inspector common discovered at a city-run sexual well being clinic, in line with a report launched Tuesday.

The Baltimore Workplace of the Inspector Common beforehand made a web site go to in December 2020 to the Druid Heights clinic, which supplies testing and remedy for sexually transmitted infections.

During the previous visit, inspectors found rodents within the basement, water leaks, a dumpster outdoors overflowing with trash, and issues with the constructing’s HVAC system that interfered with temperature-sensitive medical assessments for HIV and hepatitis C, in line with the September 2021 report.

The Baltimore Metropolis watchdog additionally raised issues concerning the clinic’s compliance with Occupational Well being and Security Administration laws and memorandums of understanding with metropolis staff’ labor unions.

An nameless criticism from Might alleged that these circumstances hadn’t been mounted. In a report Tuesday, Baltimore City Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming wrote that regardless of some enhancements, sanitary, safety and common upkeep issues continued on the clinic this summer time.

One of the obvious points throughout a July web site go to was the lifeless rat noticed in a workers break room that doubles as a provide closet. “The OIG discovered a rodent within the basement that seems to be the identical deceased rodent noticed in the identical spot in the course of the December 2020 go to,” the report stated.

Inspectors noticed rodent droppings in a single hallway and lifeless bugs all through the well being facility.

Baltimore Well being Commissioner Letitia Dzirasa said in a Sept. 13 response letter that the well being division’s contracted janitorial vendor had refused to take away lifeless rodents. “The scope of companies for the janitorial contract has been revised to assist resolve this challenge,” Dzirasa wrote. “We’re ready for this new contract to start.”

In her response to final yr’s report, Dzirasa additionally talked about the janitorial firm’s refusal to take away the lifeless rats. The well being division contracted a separate pest management firm to arrange and take away traps.

“Regrettably, as a result of delays in funds to the contracted pest management vendor, lapses in pest management companies on the web site proceed,” Dzirasa said in her 2021 statement.

The inspector common’s current report recognized unsecured doorways and a scarcity of working safety cameras as safety vulnerabilities and known as {an electrical} panel room full of cardboard containers a “potential violation of the town’s hearth code.”

Throughout a June go to, federal inspectors from OSHA raised issues about how sharps have been saved, a plan for exposures and entry to needles with security covers, the report stated. OSHA opened an inspection right into a Baltimore Metropolis Well being Division facility July 6, according to the agency’s public database.

In her response letter, Dzirasa referred to a web site go to from Maryland Occupational Well being and Security, a division of the state Division of Labor. She stated steps had been taken to abate questions of safety and stated the well being division had made “important progress with all citations.”

Not all of the information was unhealthy. The clinic’s temperature management system was functioning and a fence put in across the dumpster appeared to stop it from being overfilled, the inspector common’s report stated.

Baltimore Solar reporter Ngan Ho contributed to this text.