Many hep C risk women yet to come forward

Health authorities have tracked down less than half of the 55 New Zealand women at risk of hepatitis C following treatment at a Melbourne abortion clinic, and are urging others to come forward.

Healthline had taken 66 calls from New Zealand women who believed they could have contracted the disease, and transferred 54 calls to the Australian hepatitis C helpline, Ministry of Health deputy director of public health Fran McGrath said.

The calls came after media coverage and advertisements urged the 55 New Zealanders at risk of contracting the disease from Croydon Day Surgery, in Melbourne's northeast, where anaesthetist James Peters worked between 2006 and late last year, to come forward.

The Victorian Department of Health had notified the ministry 26 of the 55 New Zealand women had been contacted and referred for testing.

Dr McGrath said anyone treated at the clinic between January 2006 and December 2009 should ring Healthline on 0800 611 116 and get tested and treated if needed.

The total number of women who could have contracted the disease from Dr Peters was about 3500 women, including the 55 New Zealanders.

Dr Peters was being investigated by Victorian police and the Medical Practitioners Board of Victoria over his patients' infections. There was an identical genetic match to his own hepatitis C strain in at least 44 of the cases.

Australian authorities were expected to have completed their referral-to-testing process by mid-July and should be able to give an update to the New Zealand women involved by then, Dr McGrath said.

- NZPA