Australian Senate Committee Report on Transvaginal Mesh Devices

On 28 March 2018 the Australian Senate Community Affairs References Committee issued its final report on transvaginal mesh devices. It found these devices have caused unnecessary physical and emotional pain and suffering to thousands of women who were not told by their doctors of the objective material risks associated with their use. The Senate Committee concurred with the description by the Public Health Association of Australia of the complications resulting from transvaginal mesh implants as constituting a serious public health issue requiring a response at both an individual and at a population level, including counselling, public education, clinical interventions and long-lasting protective mechanisms. The committee's inquiry highlighted significant shortcomings in Australia's reporting systems for medical devices, with flow-on consequences for the health system's ability to respond in a timely and effective way. Among other recommendations, the Senate Committee backed the establishment on a cost recovery basis of a national registry of high-risk implantable devices linked to a system of mandatory reporting of adverse events.