Labs across Ontario, and other parts of the country, are experiencing a backlog of Pap test results.
Both LifeLabs and Dynacare, large private labs that process millions of tests a year, are acknowledging delays though neither quantified the scope.
Pap tests can detect pre-cancerous cell changes in the cervix.
LifeLabs and Dynacare say the backlog can be traced to staffing shortages and an increase in demand as more people return to doctors for routine appointments and screenings.
LifeLabs says there has been a global decline in the number of cytotechnologists, the specialists who search for pre-cancerous cellular changes, with only 12 to 14 new cytotechnologists graduating each year in Canada.
Michelle Hoad, the C-E-O of the Medical Laboratory Professionals' Association of Ontario, says many of the solutions to the problem are years away from having an effect, such as increasing the number of medical lab technologist programs and boosting the numbers of people current programs can accept.
A spokesperson for Health Minister Sylvia Jones says the ministry is in ``constant contact'' with labs and Ontario Health to discuss Pap test turnaround times, and is ``monitoring'' labs' plans to return to normal service levels.