This is not new
In the 1990s, I had a girlfriend who was a nurse. The health unit that employed her made all the nurses buy their own stethoscopes (not cheap, on a nurse's pay).
When I asked why, she said it was because they kept on being stolen, and management had decided to refuse to pay for replacements.
[DOGMA ALERT] Nor would management arrange proper security for the hospital, because "we have to be open to everybody".
And it wasn't just stethoscopes, lab equipment, emergency oxygen, absolutely everything, all costing hundreds or thousands to replace; it was ALL getting stolen. And the management were doing NOTHING about it.