Alberta NDP leader Brian Mason says the health minister should listen to the concerns in letters sent by provincial pathologists. (CBC)The province should listen to the concerns of pathologists and scrap plans to centralize medical laboratory services, Alberta NDP Leader Brian Mason said Wednesday.

Mason distributed letters signed by dozens of Alberta pathologists expressing concern that patient care would be compromised if lab services are centralized. The letters were sent to Gene Zwozdesky, Alberta's health minister, earlier this year,

One letter, dated Jan. 25, was signed by 10 doctors.

In it, they congratulated Zwozdesky for reversing a plan to close hospital beds, and suggested he also reverse the decision to centralize lab work, made a year ago by former health minister Ron Liepert. The plan has not yet been put in place.

"One particular issue of concern is that results of the Pap test and results of the subsequent colposcopic biopsies [a gynecological procedure] will end up in two different laboratories whose information systems are incompatible.

'This will compromise patient care'

"It will be difficult, if not impossible, for pathologists to correlate the results of the Pap tests with the biopsies, this will compromise patient care, and may result in additional unnecessary testing and or procedures," the letter said.

There was no request to provide information about the financial implications of this move, the letter said, and there was a "cloud of secrecy about the whole process."

Mason said the doctors are raising an alarm over costs.

"What they're saying is this will make it more expensive — there's increased costs here, and there always is with privatization," the NDP leader said.

He said Zwozdesky needs to listen to the pathologists.

"You don't experiment with people's lives," said Mason. "You have to trust the experts who have studied and worked in this field for many years, and when they say it's more expensive, there's more risks to the patient, and they can't get timely results, then I think we have to accept that that is a very serious concern."

Health Minister Gene Zwozdesky said he had received the letters and a meeting is planned for next week.

“Some of the pathologists and staff, in particular those from the Red Deer hospital cytology department [are meeting], and we're going to deal with this issue one way or the other,” he said.