January 23, 2014 - 10:22 AM
EDMONTON - Albertans worried about the theft of a laptop with health information on 620,000 patients are phoning with questions about whether their privacy has been compromised.
A call centre set up by Medicentres Canada had received more than 275 calls by this morning and many more were expected.
Medicentres spokesman Dr. Arif Bhimji (ah-RIFF' BIM'-jee) says people want to know what happened and why it took so long for the theft to be made public.
The government says the laptop was stolen Sept. 26 and reported by Medicentres on Oct. 1 to Alberta privacy commissioner Jill Clayton and Edmonton police.
Alberta Health Minister Fred Horne says he was not told until Tuesday, when he received a letter from the company.
The privacy commissioner is expected to issue a statement and hold a news conference later today.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2014