Appeal launched after life-saving equipment goes missing from Church Street, Inverness
Life-saving equipment based in Inverness city centre has gone missing.
Based in Church Street the 24/7 publicly accessible defibrillator is thought to have disappeared anytime between July 1 and July 3.
Community safety manager with Inverness BID, John McDonald, who looks after the installations stated: “Once again it is extremely disappointing that someone has saw fit to remove this life-saving equipment, for whatever reason legitimate or otherwise, from its strategic location in Church Street, Inverness and either fail to return it or steal it thus depriving the public of a potential life-saving intervention should the need arise.”
The equipment was donated by John Munro Butchers, formerly for the benefit of the city and those who frequent it in the hope that it will save lives. This was one of five installations across the city centre.
Mr McDonald continued: “While they are expensive to purchase - around £1400.00 - in the first instance, they have no intrinsic monetary value other than for the purpose they were designed for life-saving.
“They also don’t store any drug-related equipment so it is difficult to understand the mentality of those responsible who would want to deny someone the opportunity to live should they be unfortunate enough to suffer a catastrophic cardiac episode.
“I only hope and trust that whoever is responsible for this, at best negligent and at worst callous act, never has a personal or family member need for such equipment to be available in the event of a cardiac incident.
“I hope they have a pang of conscience and the decency to return this life-saving equipment immediately or let us know where it can be found, either to the cabinet or to Inverness BID so that it can be checked and made available once again for the purpose of saving lives.”
The incident has been reported to Police Scotland and all CCTV footage covering that area is being checked.
Anyone with information about the person(s) responsible or the whereabouts of the equipment can contact Police Scotland or Inverness BID on 01463 714550 or by email to info@inverness.uk.com .
