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Health officials are on the hunt for New Zealand women who may
have been infected with hepatitis C at an abortion clinic in
Australia.
Fifty-five Kiwi women are believed to have received treatment at
the Croydon Clinic in Melbourne and could have contracted the virus
after a doctor is believed to have deliberately infected
patients.
New Zealand health authorities are now desperately trying to
contact the Kiwi women who had treatment at the abortion clinic in
Victoria between January 2006 and December last year.
New Zealand's Ministry of Health deputy director of public health, Fran McGrath, says their main concern is for the women and that even though it is a small risk they may have been infected, it is still real.
She says Victoria's Department of Health began contacting the New Zealand women yesterday.
"The Department of Health in Victoria, has taken responsibility for tracing, directly contacting and confidentially informing all 3,500 women concerned, including the 55 affected women giving a New Zealand address," McGrath says.
So far around 1,000 Australian women have been contacted and 746 tested.
Forty-four women have already tested positive for hepatitis C and all of them were linked to anaesthetist, Doctor James Peters, who has been suspended.
Based on testing so far, about 5% of women treated at the clinic may have contracted Hepatitis C - which could mean up to three New Zealand women may test positive.
Victoria's chief health officer Doctor John Carnie believes the doctor recklessly and deliberately infected the women.
Peters is being investigated by Victorian Police and the Medical Practitioners Board of Victoria over his patients' infections, which are an identical genetic match to his own hepatitis C strain in at least 44 of the cases.
Hepatitis C is a blood-borne virus that causes inflammation of the liver and which can have serious complications.
Hepatitis specialist Ed Gane says it is important to know whether any women at risk have been affected.
The Ministry of Health says specialist staff in hospitals across the country are on standby to offer blood testing, follow up support and treatment for any women in New Zealand who may have contracted hepatitis C.
It is a sensitive and potentially distressing situation and health authorities here and in Australia are being careful to protect the privacy and confidentiality of the women involved, McGrath says.
Dozens of women across the Tasman are now suing the doctor and clinic.
New Zealand women who had procedures at the Croydon Day Surgery in Croydon, Victoria from January 1, 2006 to December 7, 2009 can call Healthline in New Zealand - phone 0800 611 116 - and be transferred free of charge to a confidential Australian hepatitis line for further information.
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