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Nearly a week after thieves stole valuable medical equipment from St. Mary’s Hospital — causing the postponement of at least a dozen colonoscopies and other procedures — Montreal police have not turned up any leads in the case and the chief investigator has yet to speak with the staff.

Officials at the West Island health authority that oversees the Côte-des-Neiges hospital have remained tight-lipped since releasing a brief statement Thursday afternoon. The public affairs department of the West Island CIUSSS has refused to respond to a series of queries by the Montreal Gazette, including questions about St. Mary’s security reorganization following huge budget cuts.



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Sources connected to St. Mary’s said they doubt that the pilfered endoscopes and colonoscopes — used to detect the early signs of colorectal cancer — will ever be recovered and will probably be sold in an underground market that experts estimate is worth tens of millions of dollars. Although there is a legitimate market for reselling used devices, the underground market for stolen medical merchandise has burgeoned in the past two decades, with thieves targeting U.S., Canadian and European hospitals.