On Monday, authorities addressed former patients through more than 7,000 registered letters as an attempt to update them regarding their possibilities to have a hepatitis or HIV infection. The letter is believed to impart general information along with an advice to visit their doctor as soon as possible in order to carry out a blood test.

Afterwards, in a news conference held on the same day, the city's Medical officer of Health, Dr. Isra Levy, notified that the clinic was not acknowledged earlier. In addition, Dr. Levy said: "We are aware of the distress these letters may cause and we have worked to ensure that important information on how to be tested and how to seek medical advice is included”.

After discussing the matter with the experts of communicable disease, in a statement, the Ottawa Public Health has anticipated that there are very less chances for developing the hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus or HIV during the tests performed at the facility that mainly carried out endoscopic procedures.

Further, the officials have claimed that one out of million is likely to have an exposure to hepatitis B whereas there is one in 50 millions possibilities that patients may have been infected with hepatitis C infection. For HIV, they insisted one in 3 billion chances.

On the other hand, a number of individuals have criticized the unit and raised questions on the matter. They insisted that lack of information can panic the patients who have ever used a medical clinic in the province, even during the past 10 years. Consequently, the Ottawa Public Health has launched a helpline number to offer informative assistance on the issue.

Further, the Ottawa Public Health notified that Dr. Christiane Farazli had operated the clinic.