Pretoria - The newly renovated Johannesburg Forensic Services Laboratory is expected to be fully functional and hard at work soon.
Renovations at the Department of Health's Johannesburg laboratory, which had not been functioning for three years, have recently been completed.
It is expected to be functional soon with an operational plan in place to deal with older, recent and current cases.
Deputy Ministers of Health Gwen Ramokgopa, Police Maggie Sotyu and Justice Andries Nel, visited the laboratory on Tuesday.
The visit was part of a series of visits that will take place to consider the capacity and performance of the forensic laboratories of both health and police services.
Health forensic laboratories deal with matters such as the analysis of blood alcohol results and toxicology analysis of those who may have died of unnatural causes.
The functioning of these laboratories has an impact on the court backlogs, the effectiveness and efficiency of the Criminal Justice System and the speed at which matters are finalised.
The deputy ministers were briefed on the Department of Health's turnaround strategy to address the outstanding and backlog analysis at the laboratories.
This strategy includes new accommodation for the laboratory in Pretoria, an upgrade on the one in Cape Town and the establishment of a new laboratory in KwaZulu-Natal.
Additional posts have been created at all the laboratories and vacancies are in the process of being filled. Equipment has also been improved.
SAPS laboratories have also had a turnaround strategy in place and have made good inroads in reducing their backlogs.
The deputy ministers said, together with their respective departments, they would work closely to ensure that the laboratories operate at their optimum and where possible, share resources.
Follow up visits to the Johannesburg laboratory, as well as visits to police laboratories, are expected in the coming months.
