The NHLS is turning the corner

Since the National Health Laboratory Service was rocked by a scandal involving contracts worth about R200-million, which implicated its former chief executive and chief financial officer, the organisation has implemented strategies to catch fraud and criminality early - and they seem to be working.

- By Estelle Ellis

The National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) has often been in the headlines in recent years for lengthy delays and a massive backlog in releasing forensic test results, but another story — one of tackling corruption, fraud and tender irregularities — has quietly been unfolding behind the scenes.

As part of a written answer to a question in Parliament, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has published data and information showing that the NHLS has been tackling crime and corruption — and acting on public tip-offs. His answer has offered a rare glimpse of what accountability looks like in the public health sector.

The NHLS is the primary provider of diagnostic pathology services to the public health sector in South Africa, which means it handles the laboratory analysis of patient bodily samples. In addition, its forensic chemistry laboratories handle the tests for blood alcohol analysis as well as toxicology tests to determine causes of death.

In 2019, after a corruption scandal relating to information technology (IT) contracts worth about R200-million at the service, it introduced the Vuvuzela tip-off hotline to receive information on where things are going wrong.