Vic: Thwaites defends govt response on pap smears
By Ben Packham, State Political Correspondent
MELBOURNE, April 10 AAP - Victorian Health Minister John Thwaites today said the governmentcould not have acted any sooner to warn 20,000 women their pap smear results could beinaccurate.
This was despite earlier concerns about the Melbourne laboratory where their pap smearswere tested.
"The evidence that was available then only applied to 1998 and 1999," Mr Thwaites told reporters.
The state government today announced letters would be sent to 20,000 women whose papsmears were tested at General Diagnostic Laboratories (GDL) in the past two years.
They would be advised to be retested after the National Association of Testing Authorities(NATA) raised concerns about the accuracy of the tests.
This followed concerns last month about the accuracy of GDL's tests in 1998 and 1999,which led to 14,500 women being told to be retested.
Mr Thwaites said the government had acted as soon as possible on the latest batch ofsuspect results after advice from the testing accreditation agency.
"We asked them (NATA) as soon as there was a problem with the earlier tests, to carryout the tests on the subsequent years ...
"As soon as they've carried out those tests, as soon as they've reported, we're actingon it. We are ensuring that people are notified.
"It's not possible to act without evidence."
GDL stopped carrying out pap smear tests at the end of March. It now refers tests toaccredited laboratories.
A spokeswoman for the public relations company acting for GDL today said the laboratorywould not be commenting on the latest developments.
"No-one is available for interview at this stage as legal issues are still being considered,"
she said.
The spokeswoman would not comment on what the legal issues were.
The state's chief health officer, Dr John Carnie, said pap smears were the best wayof detecting cervical cancer.
But he said they only detected early cell changes that could indicate cancer.
"It's not a test that picks up advanced cancer, because by then, people would be symptomatic,"
he told reporters.
"It's just a screening test to pick up the earliest changes."
He said re-testing was the best option for the women concerned to be reassured theydid not have signs of the onset of cancer.
Meanwhile, Dr Carnie said there was no evidence to suggest that any other laboratoriesundertaking cervical smears had been delivering suspect results, as there was a nationalquality assurance program undertaken by NATA.
It was this program that had revealed the concerns about GDL.
AAP bp/gfr/ph/bwl
KEYWORD: PAP LEAD
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