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Victorian government defends six month delay in HIV test notification Victorian government defends six-month delay in HIV test notification
(about 5 hours later)
The Victorian health minister has defended a six-month delay in informing almost 400 people they needed to be tested for HIV. More than 120 people have now tested negative following an HIV scare involving a country Victorian health practitioner.
The health department sent letters to 399 residents of a Victorian town in early July, months after a healthcare worker notified authorities they had contracted HIV in January. But the Victorian premier, Denis Napthine, and the health minister, David Davis, are defending a six-month delay in informing almost 400 people they needed to be tested for HIV.
David Davis said on Thursday the process of tracking down all potentially exposed patients was "complex". The health department sent letters to 399 residents of a Victorian town in early July, months after a healthcare worker notified authorities about contracting HIV in January.
He said the state's chief health officer Dr Rosemary Lester gathered a panel of experts to deal with the matter, and the timing was consistent with similar incidents interstate. Napthine said Victoria's chief medical officer, Rosemary Lester, had handled the situation according to national guidelines and rules.
"In these matters it is not for politicians to second guess the doctors and the medical experts who are the appropriate ones to make decisions and to give advice on dealing with these health matters," he said in Geelong on Thursday.
"The important thing here is that now over 120 people have now been contacted and tested, and all have been negative, and we trust and hope that the assessment from the medical experts of a low risk comes to fruition and that all the people contacted through this trace-back test will test negative."
Davis said on Thursday the process of tracking down all potentially exposed patients was "complex".
He said Lester had gathered a panel of experts to deal with the matter, and the timing was consistent with similar incidents interstate.
"This is a complex process and obviously the chief health officer has made these steps very thoroughly," Davis told ABC radio."This is a complex process and obviously the chief health officer has made these steps very thoroughly," Davis told ABC radio.
He said the testing was precautionary, and of 90 tests completed to date there were no cases of HIV transmission. But the opposition spokeswoman on community services, Jenny Mikakos, said Victorians affected by the HIV scare deserved better.
"Denis Napthine needs to explain why it took seven months from the health worker being diagnosed to community being informed. This is an extremely serious matter and the community deserves answers," she said.