MONCTON, N.B. - Officials with New Brunswick's Health Department are telling an inquiry they had no idea there were concerns about a pathologist's work in Miramichi prior to the suspension of his licence last year.
Health Department managers are among the first witnesses at the inquiry, which will spend several months trying determine what happened at a laboratory that is now the focus of a large-scale review.
Lise Daigle, director of hospital services, says she has worked closely with lab consultants for years, but no issues were brought to her attention about the Miramichi lab and the work of Dr. Rajgopal Menon.
An Ottawa laboratory is now reviewing almost 24,000 cases handled by Menon from 1995 to 2007 after an audit showed significant numbers of incomplete biopsies and missed disagnoses, especially in relation to prostate and breast cancers.
Menon, 73, is attending the inquiry in Moncton but he is refusing to comment to reporters, even though he has defended his work in the past, and has insisted the inquiry is unfair and unjustified.
He is expected to testify later in the month.
