Shocking reports have emerged of a drug dealer sneaking into a hospital and injecting either heroin or methamphetamine into a patient's arm on Wednesday.
Seven News reported that a patient at St Vincent's Public Hospital in Sydney was desperate for a hit, so phoned his dealer who allegedly proceeded to enter the hospital and inject the drug into the patient's arm.
2GB radio host Ben Fordham said he received information of the incident on Wednesday.
"At that point the dealer was finishing up the injection, standing there literally injecting drugs into the arm of the patient," Fordham told Daily Mail Australia.
"When the drug dealer was caught mid act, [he] immediately ran off."
The incident raises concerns about drug dealers infiltrating hospitals and taking advantage of vulnerable patients.
Daily Mail Australia reported that sources have also witnessed hospital patients buying and using drugs on hospital premises late last year.
The source told the Mail that a woman was laying in her hospital bed as she spoke to a dealer on the phone begging for drugs.
"She made a call to get it delivered downstairs so she could pick it up," the source told Daily Mail Australia.
"She was in hospital for two days when she first started talked about getting her fix."
It was alleged that the patient used the hospital bathroom to inject the drug, which was concealed in a paper bag, into her arm.
The NSW Nurse's Association says it is not unusual for such incidents to occur, but it is even more common for patients to leave the hospital to score drugs.
In a statement, St Vincent's said there was a zero-tolerance policy for any illegal activity on hospital grounds, including dealing or purchasing illegal substances, and in such situations police are always called.
"Any illegal activity on our grounds is immediately reported to Hospital Security as well as NSW Police."
The hospital told 2GB drug dealing and purchasing incidents do happen at St Vincent's Hospital but they were "isolated".