It is taking eight years to process toxicology samples at the Department of Health’s forensic laboratory in Johannesburg, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Tuesday.
DA health spokesperson Mike Waters said the country’s three state forensic chemistry laboratories had “all but collapsed”.
At Johannesburg, there was a backlog of 5 231 toxicology samples, which meant it was taking eight years to process a sample.
The toxicology backlog in Cape Town was 3 464 samples, with a seven-year processing time.
For drunken-driving cases, Johannesburg had a backlog of 12 750 samples and a three-year processing time, while Cape Town stood at 6 348 and 21 weeks.
Waters said problems at the laboratories, a third of which were in Pretoria, started in 1998 when it was decided to move them from the police to health.
“The function shift caused so much uncertainty that services had already started deteriorating by the transfer date in 2006,” Waters said.
“The police declined to maintain the services in the years leading up to the transfer and the health departments were too weak to look after them following the transfer.”
He said the national Health Department did not regard the services as a priority, and as a result the laboratories were grossly underfunded and understaffed.
“How on earth could the department allow the situation to become so desperate and still not take any decisive action?” he asked.
“Apart from the current backlog, which is affecting many South Africans and many court cases, how does the department envisage that blood samples from foreign visitors during the Soccer World Cup will be processed before they go back home?”
An additional R6-million a year was needed to fill all the vacant posts plus additional posts that had been requested. — Sapa