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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 4 Hansard (22 April) . . Page.. 1271 ..

advised that a report from AHMAC will be coming to the next meeting of Health

Ministers in July this year.

It should be noted that I was Minister for Health and Community Care at the July 1998 meeting. The issue of Hepatitis C lookback was not discussed at that meeting, although of course as I have advised I was briefed about the lookback issue by my Department shortly after my appointment and had ensured that action was being taken as a matter of priority.

(11) What action did the ACT Department of Health or The Canberra Hospital take following the above two mentioned meetings of the AHMAC in relation to the Hepatitis C lookback program.

(11) In relation to the 1995 meeting, the ARCBS had undertaken to perform a lookback on all donated units of blood in regard to potential Hepatitis C. Since the Chief Health Officer, Dr Zonta understood that action was being taken by ARCBS directly with the hospitals, then no further action was required by the Department at that time. However in September 1997, the Department became aware that while potentially infected units had been identified further action needed to be taken, and began to coordinate action with the ARCBS and the hospitals. The Department immediately undertook a series of activities to develop effective lookback options. The Department has systematically been coordinating implementation of the lookback program since that time, including a pilot survey of people with Hepatitis C who identified blood transfusion as a risk factor, appointment of a coordinator to identify availability of records within hospitals and the potential for linkages with ARCBS data, establishment of an interdepartmental coordinating committee, development and implementation of a lookback implementation plan, and investigation of possible compensation arrangements.

In relation to Item C7 of the AHMAC meeting of 23 October 1997, this was not linked with the Hepatitis C lookback program. However the ACT has been participating in the development of possible indemnity arrangements for blood and blood products, and in the overall approach to the funding and management of the ARCBS .

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