The breast cancer scandal that rocked Newfoundland and Labrador can happen anywhere in the country, the organization that represents 14,000 lab technologists across Canada warned Wednesday.

Representatives from the Canadian Society for Medical Laboratory Science travelled to St. John's to be on hand for the release of a report written by Justice Margaret Cameron that probed inaccurate breast cancer testing at Eastern Health.

Kurt Davis, the group's national spokesman, said the report confirms what his organization has said for years — budget and staff cuts from the 1990s are still being felt today.

Davis said he is worried that what happened at Eastern Health can also happen elsewhere.

"We are concerned that similar situations exist but have not erupted in this fashion across Canada," he said.

Davis said a staffing crisis is on the horizon because by 2015 nearly half of the lab techs in Canada could be ready for retirement.

He said health authorities and governments across Canada must take Cameron's report seriously and come up with the money to implement her recommendations.

Staff shortages remain

Curtis Martin, spokesman for the Newfoundland and Labrador Society of Laboratory Technologists, said despite Eastern Health's promises that things have improved, laboratories across the province continue to suffer staff shortages.

"Over the last two decades, our medical laboratories have been asked to perform more tests, with fewer personnel, resources education and training," he said.

Despite those worries, Lynn Wade, the laboratory medicine director at Eastern Health, said the quality of work produced by the technologists is not a concern.

"Lab technologists in this province have been well trained at the College of the North Atlantic. It's a very well accepted program," she said.