Dr. Nash Denic says problems with the St. John's pathology lab are rooted in years of funding cutbacks. (CBC)

Botched breast cancer tests were a consequence of years of government funding cuts in Newfoundland and Labrador, a pathologist said Monday.

In testimony that was emotional at times, Dr. Nash Denic — chief of pathology at Eastern Health — told the Cameron inquiry in St. John's that he hopes the breast cancer testing scandal that has gripped the province for more than a year is never repeated.

"To our patients and their families, I would like to express our deepest sympathies for the pain that this caused them," said Denic, who needed to pause during closing statements to maintain his composure.

"We are committed to ensure that this never happens again and we are dedicated to ongoing care."

Denic now manages the St. John's pathology department that is the focus of Justice Margaret Cameron's inquiry into how hundreds of breast cancer patients received inaccurate results on their hormone receptor tests, possibly diverting many of them from the anti-hormonal drug tamoxifen.

That drug has been clinically shown to improve a patient's odds of survival.

The tests are done to determine whether a candidate would benefit from the drug.

Denic, who began testifying last week, said the causes of the problems are likely numerous and some may never be fully known.

'Cause comes beyond the lab'

However, he said it is clear that years of restraint led to a pathology lab that did not have sufficient staff nor the proper resources to assist the overburdened people who worked there.

"The cause comes beyond the lab," Denic told reporters after he finished testifying.

"We should look into the resources — understaffing, underresources. The money was not put in the lab," said Denic, adding that there were expectations that "the machines were just going to get the results back. That was very wrong."

Instead, Denic said, pathology suffered through years of neglect.

"The lab is the foundation of medicine," he said. "All of the problems depend on the quality of [the] laboratory service that we provide."

Financial problems reported

Denic said he has been deeply moved by patients who have been involved in the breast cancer testing issue.

"I still see their faces. It's heartbreaking," he said.

Denic is one of several witnesses at the Cameron inquiry, which has been hearing evidence since March, who have addressed the effects of fiscal restraint.

George Tilley, former chief executive officer of Eastern Health, testified this spring that the authority was coming to terms with the cancer test issue in 2005, just as he was directed by government to cut $10 million in spending.

In July, Dr. Donald Cook, former clinical chief of pathology, testified that he and other pathologists are burning out because of a heavy workload. Cook is on medical leave.

Also in July, former pathology site chief Dr. Mahmoud Khalifa testified that the lab was treated dismally in the mid-1990s, when cutbacks in the health-care system were implemented.

In May, the Newfoundland and Labrador government dramatically increased salaries for pathologists, as well as medical and radiation oncologists, in an effort to halt staff from resigning and improve recruitment of specialists.