The Gauteng Department of Health says it is working around the clock to decrease the number of post-mortem report backlogs in the province.
There is currently a backlog of over 10 900 post-mortem reports. More than 2000 of those are at forensic chemistry laboratories and the rest are at forensic pathology laboratories.
The department says the filling of all funded posts as and when they become vacant has been prioritised to ensure that facilities have adequate human resource personnel to carry out the work.
Department spokesperson Kwara Kekana says there has been a motivation to boost the staff compliment.
“There has also been a motivation for the review of the staff establishment and organogram in order to bolster the existing staff complement to cater for the ever-increasing Gauteng population and service demands. The Department’s Forensic Pathology Services (FPS) works very closely with the South African Police Services (SAPS) and the Department of Justice in carrying out its work. The FPS’s primary objective is to render medico-legal investigations of deaths that serve the judicial process. The teams adhere to a standardised, uniform protocols and procedures which are set out nationally in order to ensure objective, impartial, and scientifically accurate results,” says Kekana.
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