NHLS aiming to implement digital pathology to address cancer diagnosis backlog

The National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) said it's aiming to get digital pathology early next year to help deal with the backlog in diagnosing cancer patients.

Earlier on Monday, the Democratic Alliance (DA) visited Charlotte Maxeke Hospital to meet with the specialists who told the party, the backlog figures currently sit at almost 14,000.

They said a shortage in staff numbers has put further strain on the system.

READ: NHLS facing pathologist shortage as it loses specialists to private sector

The National Health Laboratory Service said some pathologists had chosen to go to the private sector for better pay, leaving public facilities with a staff shortage and a backlog.

Its CEO, Koleka Milisana, said the lab had asked the private sector to assist in processing outstanding lab work but it’s an expensive exercise.

She said they wanted to now implement a policy that instructs pathologists o work for at least two years in the public healthcare sector after graduating.

Milisana said they’re also looking into digital pathology, which allows for samples to be digitised and the results accessed across the country.

"Once the work is done, it is on slides, those slides get captured digitally and any of our histopathologists across the country can review that work and send it out."

She added that she hopes that with the new technology, specialists would be discouraged from leaving the public sector.