ALMOST 90 Victorians have tested negative to HIV after coming into contact with an infected health-care worker.
THEY are among 399 residents of a Victoria east town who received letters explaining that a worker unwittingly exposed patients over several months.
But the residents have not been given the worker’s identity or the relevant medical procedure involved. Health Minister David Davis said on Wednesday that more people had presented to organise tests in the past 24 hours. He said the HIV-positive worker had notified the Department of Health in January. Premier Denis Napthine defended the department’s process for advising patients but said questions would be asked about the time it took to alert them. “We need to get the dates in terms of the time the practitioner self-reported (the HIV status) and what further investigations were required to ensure people were contacted and notified appropriately,” he said. One man who received a letter, identified only as Daniel, told Fairfax Radio on Wednesday that he wanted to know what medical procedure exposed him. “The problem is they can’t give out that detail – I’ve already asked and they can’t give me anymore,” he said. Victoria’s chief health officer Dr Rosemary Lester said the risk was very low and her primary concern was the privacy of those involved. A “painstaking” investigation which involved working through patient records and considering expert advice had taken time, she told Fairfax radio.