Health Minister Tony Ryall is urging 55 New Zealand women who may have contracted hepatitis C from a Melbourne abortion clinic to get in touch with the ministry here.
Around 3500 women here and in Australia could be tested for the disease after they attended the Croydon Day Surgery, in Melbourne's northeast, where anaesthetist James Peters worked between 2006 and late last year.
Dr Peters is being investigated by Victorian Police and the Medical Practitioners Board of Victoria over his patients' infections, which are an identical genetic match to his own hepatitis C strain in at least 44 of the cases.
Hepatitis C is a blood-borne virus that causes inflammation of the liver and which can have serious complications.
So far around 1000 Australian women have been contacted and 746 tested.
Mr Ryall said about three of the women may have the disease.
"It's a very limited number of women, we want to do the level best that we can to try and help the Australian authorities to get these people the best treatment that we can and as soon as possible," he told reporters.
"The important thing is that people get tested and checked, and the message for these 55 women who went to the Croydon medical centre over the last four years is to ring Healthline and we will put them in touch with the Australian authorities."
New Zealand's Ministry of Health deputy director of public health Fran McGrath said Victoria's Department of Health began contacting the New Zealand women yesterday.
"The Department of Health in Victoria has taken responsibility for tracing, directly contacting and confidentially informing all 3500 women concerned, including the 55 affected women giving a New Zealand address."
Health officials here would be helping their Victorian counterparts in helping trace the New Zealand women concerned, Dr McGrath said.
Based on testing so far, about 5 percent of women treated at the clinic may have contracted Hepatitis C -- which could mean up to three New Zealand women may test positive.
It was a sensitive and potentially distressing situation and health authorities here and in Australia were being careful to protect the privacy and confidentiality of the women involved, Dr McGrath said.
District health board specialist staff were on standby to offer blood testing, follow-up, support and treatment if necessary, she said.
New Zealand women who had procedures at the Croydon Day Surgery in Croydon, Victoria from January 1, 2006 to December 7, 2009 could call Healthline in New Zealand - 0800 611 116 - and be transferred free of charge to a confidential Australian hepatitis line for further information.
