Durban - Work is in progress at the forensic laboratory which would fast-track the testing of blood alcohol samples in the province, the department said.
Dr Mandla Mazizi, general manager at the KZN Health Department’s forensic pathology services, said the laboratory, the fourth which would add to the existing three in the country, could be operational by the end of next month, as opposed to the initial anticipated month of March.
“The work at the site is progressing fairly well. Once the facility is up and running, it will be a thing of the past for law enforces to wait long periods before they can get blood sample results,” Mazizi said.
The facility is accommodated at Durban’s Magwaza Maphalala (Gale) Street mortuary. At a later stage, a full range of toxicology services will be added, including testing of blood for drugs and poisons.
At present it takes a minimum of six weeks for the return of test results from Johannesburg or Pretoria, where the tests are done. A third laboratory of this kind is in Cape Town.
Last month, Mazizi had told the Daily News that when the department took over all mortuaries from the police around 2010, they were in a state of disrepair.
“Once all the installations are done then it will take a couple of days to ascertain if an individual’s blood has alcohol, traces of drugs or poison.
“In accident scenes or inferno, or in a case where a body is found in a state of decomposition, it will be identified in matter of days as opposed to the long wait for sample test results from Gauteng.
“In accidents, we will be able to tell if a person is killed by the impact of the airbags or the impact of metal to metal,” Mazizi said at the time.
He had said all the requirements were met and although he could not confirm the cost of the upgrades, Mazizi said that when they began the renovations an amount of R2 million for structural changes was available, and the equipment was already available.
Minor modifications such as parking were also attended to during the upgrade.
Currently, only post-mortems are carried out at the facility, and blood, urine and tissue samples being sent to Gauteng.
DA’s Dr Wilmot James MP, said he doubted the work would be completed in next month.
“After a site visit in December, my assessment is that March will be the time for the facility to start operating. That will mean a couple of weeks delay so there will be no harm. We want to see these facilities up and running,” James said on Thursday.
Daily News