A man who used to repair surgical instruments at the Health Sciences Centre is raising concerns about their cleanliness.

Lyn Delorme, a former senior surgical instrument technician, said he has tested instruments that are supposed to be sterile – and discovered they are contaminated with human blood, flesh or bone.

"It's not only stuff that's coming to me, it's stuff that I'm finding that's being used in clinical use," Delorme said.

"I would think the worst thing that could happen is an infection that could ultimately lead to death," he said. 

Delorme provided photos to CTV that he said show dirty surgical instruments that he has come across over the 10 years he has worked at the Health Sciences Centre.

"I've been seeing this throughout the 10 years but it seems to be getting worse," Delorme said.

A spokesperson for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, Heidi Graham, said the hospital conducts random testing of instruments and when it is discovered an instrument is contaminated with materials like blood or a strand of hair, it is labelled "difficult to clean."

"Then we look at the instrument," said Graham. "We assess what can be done to ensure it's clean and from then on every instrument like that, of that nature, whenever it is cleaned, goes through that extra level of cleaning."

According to the health authority, 80 varieties of its 40,000 instruments are considered difficult to clean. Graham said it would be "difficult to ensure" that there are no difficult-to-clean instruments in use that haven't been found yet.

"I think with the amount of routine maintenance going on, it is regular enough that we are identifying these instruments," she said.

Delorme said that he and his former co-workers have made their superiors aware of their concerns. For example, he sent an email in 2008 that asked for further infection control after he discovered a dirty instrument.

Graham said the WRHA has no record of a dirty instrument ever harming a patient. However, Progressive Conservative Health Critic Myrna Driedger said she is worried about the situation.

"These are very serious allegations that are being raised and I think it is a concern for patients," Driedger said. "When they go to surgery [they] want to know that the surgical equipment that's being used is indeed sterilized properly."

Delorme took his concerns to the Manitoba ombudsman late last year. It ruled that no offence was committed by the hospital or health authority.

"There does not appear to be a federal or provincial statute or regulation governing the matters you disclosed and therefore we have concluded that the information you disclosed does not indicate that there has been an offence committed," the ruling stated.

Health Minister Theresa Oswald confirmed there is no province-wide policy concerning the cleaning of surgical instruments.

"Naturally we'll be following up with the WRHA with any alleged photographs or images so that this can be investigated, because patient safety is number one," Oswald said.

In the meantime, Delorme says he wouldn't even consider having surgery at the Health Sciences Centre.

Delorme said he recently was offered severance package from the WRHA.

-with a report from CTV's Laura Lowe