NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
FOR WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION NO. 361
DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 18 February 2011
(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO. 2)
Dr L L Bosman (DA) to ask the Minister of Health:
(1) Whether any of the three forensic chemistry laboratories have a
backlog in analysing (a) blood samples, (b) food and (c) toxicology
reports; if so, (i) what is the extent of the backlog at each
laboratory and (ii) how long will it take to eliminate the backlog at
each of the laboratories;
(2) how many (a) blood, (b) food and (c) toxicology reports have been
completed by each of the laboratories for each of the past twelve
months for which information is available?
NW389E
REPLY:
1) (a), (b), (c) Yes, all the three forensic chemistry
laboratories in Cape Town, Pretoria and Johannesburg have
backlogs in blood alcohol, food and toxicology reports.
i) The following table reflects the information in this
regard:
|January 2011 |Cape Town |Pretoria|Johannesburg|
|Drunken driving |7 428 |7 347 |9 479 |
|alcohol | | | |
|Post-mortem alcohol|1 307 |3 070 |6 656 |
|Toxicology |4 107 |7 423 |6 443 |
|Food analysis |517 |261 |Not done |
ii) The following table reflects the details in this
regard:
|Pretoria |Blood acohol. With 6 analysts and |
|Laboratory |additional posts (15 analysts in total)|
| |filled by April 2011, including the |
| |payment of overtime from April, the |
| |backlog should be worked down by August|
| |2011. |
| | |
| |Food. It would be possible to work the |
| |backlog down by June 2011 with the |
| |current staff if the two additional |
| |posts for Food analysis are filled and |
| |provided that there will be no rotation|
| |of staff to blood alcohol and if |
| |overtime is allowed. |
| | |
| |Toxicology. Backlog will be reduced |
| |with the staffing of the five vacant |
| |posts and filling of additional posts |
| |(14 posts in total) and the payment of |
| |overtime, it is foreseen that the |
| |backlog will be worked down in two |
| |years. Newly appointed staff will have |
| |to be trained before they can start |
| |being fully productive. |
|Cape Town |Blood Alcohol: Backlog will be worked |
|Laboratory |down by December 2011 provided that the|
| |5 newly appointed analysts have been |
| |assessed and approved as technical |
| |signatories and no technical |
| |signatories resign. |
| | |
| |Food: Backlog will be worked down in |
| |one year after filling of additional |
| |posts. |
| | |
| |Toxicology: Backlog will be worked down|
| |in two and a half years after filling |
| |of additional posts. |
|Johannesburg|Blood Alcohol. With the current staff |
|Laboratory |(4 analysts in Blood Alcohol) the |
| |backlog should be worked down in 12 |
| |months. |
| | |
| |Toxicology. With the current staff (12 |
| |analysts), the Toxicology backlog |
| |should be worked down in two and a half|
| |years. |
2) The following table reflects the situation in this regard:
| |Total completed 2010 |Cape Town |Pretoria |Johannesburg |
|a |Drunk driving alcohol |20Â 601 |8Â 735 |4 429 |
| |Post mortem alcohol |7 467 |5 709 |3 589 |
|b |Food analysis |3 004 |1 047 |Not done |
|c |Toxicology |349 |528 |10 |
Cape Town: This laboratory receives the largest number of blood
alcohol samples compared to the other two
laboratories. These samples have to be processed for
the court in the shortest space of time. This has
resulted in the analysts spending more time in blood
analysis as compared to toxicology analysis. This is
done through rotation of analysts for 3 months blood
alcohol and 1 month toxicology. This rotation will
change with the appointment of additional staff.
Cape Town laboratory has also experienced resignation of a
number of toxicology analysts and this is a very
highly specialised area that needs intensive
training.
Johannesburg: The backlog is exacerbated by the fact that no
analysis has been done continuous in both Toxicology
and blood since the renovations commenced to there
will be no reports as some of the analysis has
stopped completely.
Pretoria: The laboratory does not receive large number of food
samples as compared to the Cape Town laboratory. An
analyst spends 3 weeks in toxicology and 1 week in
blood alcohol on a rotational basis in a month.
The analysis is best understood when you look at how much is
received and how much is processed. Toxicology takes
longer because most of the time the analysts receive
specimen with unknown pesticides or drugs and they
have to test for more than 20 compounds until they
get the correct one that caused death.
For all the laboratories even when they do internal training
they do not immediately put analysts on toxicology
cases until such time they are competent to do this.
END.