CALGARY - The head of a public colon cancer centre in Calgary says there was administrative chaos when the clinic opened in 2008 and patient lists got mashed together.

Dr. Alaa Rostom told Alberta's queue-jumping inquiry that the centre took over one of every three colon cancer screening slots in the city.

That meant specialists not working at the clinic had fewer slots to offer their private patients.

Rostom testified that the only fair thing to do was to give the specialists one in every two slots at the new clinic.

He also testified that the centre was so short of clerical staff that they were scrambling to fill the appointment book.

He said the confusion meant some patients got in quicker.

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