Lab may resume screening work a year after data of 500,000 women stolen

The Clinical Diagnostics laboratory, from which medical data of nearly half a million women were stolen in a hack last year, may again take part in the national cervical cancer screening program. The lab has now brought its data security sufficiently up to standard, Health Minister Sophie Hermans wrote in a letter to the Tweede Kamer.

Back in 2025, personal and medical data were stolen from hundreds of thousands of women who took part in the national screening program for cervical cancer.

In June, the VVD minister told the Tweede Kamer that Clinical Diagnostics did not yet meet all security requirements. Now, the shortcomings have been resolved, Hermands said. The lab is, therefore, allowed to continue contributing to the screening program.

In the meantime, the advocacy group Women’s Right Collective (WRC) stated that it has held Clinical Diagnostics together with the minister of Health, Welfare, and Sport liable for the consequences of the data breach.

The group wants compensation and answers for the victims. If there is no reply or start of talks within three weeks, it says it will take the case to court, which is a separate decision from the lab’s ability to participate in screenings again.