National Health Laboratory Service

The National Health Laboratory Service is a South African national government institution established in 2001. It was created by merging the South African Institute for Medical Research, the National Centre for Occupational Health and the National Institute for Virology. It also absorbed various provincial health department and university-run pathology laboratories.
The NHLS is the diagnostic pathology service for the public sector in South Africa. A network of 265 laboratories service all public hospitals and clinics in the country.

Divisions and subsidiaries

Besides the network of pathology laboratories operated by the NHLS the institution also has a number of specialist divisions:

National Institute for Communicable Diseases

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases was created by combining various structures inherited from the NHLS's parent organisations. The former National Institute for Virology was combined with the former SAIMR's specialist laboratories of microbiology, parasitology, and entomology to create a communicable diseases institute with a public health orientation, comparable to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the United States.

National Institute for Occupational Health

The National Institute for Occupational Health investigates occupational diseases and performs occupational environment analysis through a variety of services which include statutory autopsy, advisory and information services, health hazard evaluation and specialist laboratory services.
The services and units of the NIOH are:

Analytical Services
Asbestos Information, Identification, Counting, Monitoring and Evaluation Services
Autopsy Examination Services
Bioaerosol Monitoring Unit
Compensation Service
Diagnostic Services
Electron Microscopy Service
Epidemiology Surveillance
Ergonomics Unit
Genotoxicity Assessment Unit
Health Risk Assessment Unit
Industrial Toxicology Information Services
Library Services
Micro and Nano - Particle Sizing
Occupational Allergy Unit
Occupational Health Risk Assessments
Occupational Hygiene Audits
Occupational Hygiene Surveys
Occupational Medicine Referral Clinic
Particle Toxicology/Nanotoxicology Unit
Query Handling Service
Toxicogenomics Unit
Waterborne Pathogens Unit
National Cancer Registry

The NIOH also manages the National Cancer Registry which is responsible for analysing newly diagnosed cancer cases and to report annual cancer incidence rates. The NCR collects data from public and private histopathology, cytology and haematology laboratories across the whole country.

South African Vaccine Producers

South African Vaccine Producers is a subsidiary of the National Health Laboratory Service, responsible for manufacturing vaccines and antivenoms. SAVP's Antivenom Unit is the only manufacturer of antivenom for a number of venomous snakes found in Africa as well as scorpion and spider antivenom.

Antivenom shortage

At the beginning of 2022 and for the following year, South Africa experienced a shortage of antivenom. The South African Vaccine Producers said that they faced several challenges, including equipment failure due to power outages and supply issues. Questions were raised as to why a five-year supply declined to a shortage of antivenom. The National Health Laboratory Service said it distributed antivenom to 124 facilities but demand was still exceeding supply.

Training

The NHLS is involved in training all pathologists in South Africa through its partnerships with all nine of the medical schools at South African universities.

Research

The NHLS is involved in pathology and health surveillance research through the pathology laboratories it runs at the medical schools. The partnerships with universities concentrate on a few priority areas; HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, occupational health, malnutrition prevention, cervical cancer screening and pneumococcal infections.

Controversies

Finances

During 2011 the Treatment Action Campaign, an HIV/AIDS non-governmental organisation criticised the national government for allowing the financial viability of the NHLS to be threatened due to the failure of the health departments of Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal to pay the NHLS for services rendered. The financial problems continued into 2012.

Labour disputes and irregularities in procurements

In September 2024, the Labour Court upheld the dismissal of former CEO Joyce Mogale and late CFO Sikhumbuzo Zulu who were fired in 2019; they had been suspended since February 2017 for irregularities in procurements totalling R200 million. The court also ordered Mogale to pay R22 million in damages to the NHLS. The court criticised the NHLS for inadequate control and accountability. Mogale is separately facing criminal charges for allegedly contravening the Public Finance Management Act.