The delay by the Free State public health laboratory services in providing patients with their blood results was caused by a cyber attack in June.
The National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) announced on Monday, 5 August, that it was working towards restoring services countrywide.
The NHLS has confirmed that it experienced an information technology (IT) security breach in June due to a cyber attack that has compromised its systems and infrastructure.
Unknown ransomware reportedly deleted large sections of the agency’s system, including backup servers.
Providing test results to clinics remains a challenge, and officials reportedly have been struggling to restore WebView, a portal where doctors and nurses could sign in and see automatically generated test results.
In a statement issued on Monday, the NHLS stated that significant strides have been made to safely rebuild and restore some of its critical IT infrastructure and systems.
The body runs 265 laboratories across South Africa that provide testing services for public healthcare facilities in the country’s nine provinces.
According to Prof. Koleka Mlisana, chief executive officer (CEO) of the NHLS, some of the critical services have been brought back online in a phased and controlled manner, beginning with academic and larger laboratories countrywide.
“These services include laboratory registration, results processing, and reporting via the Laboratory Information System. This means that healthcare professionals can now obtain patient results online through the NHLS Laboratory Web Results Viewer, giving them access to crucial patient information needed for patient care continuity.
“Bringing the Laboratory Information System back online is expected to significantly reduce the pressure and backlog associated with manual processes used by the NHLS laboratories to collate and communicate results to physicians, streamlining the process and enhancing efficiency,” said Koleka.
To mitigate the cyber attack, the body reported it was compelled to shut down systems to repair the damage; and activated its incident response team, which included both internal experts and external cybersecurity professionals.
“Despite ongoing global cyber attacks, the NHLS remains committed to safeguarding its IT assets while carrying out its mandate, as well as working to restore normal service delivery,” said Koleka.
Mondli Mvambi, spokesperson for the provincial Department of Health, confirmed that laboratory services in the province did not escape the impact of the cyber security breach.
He said alternative means to mitigate the impact were in place.
“We do get the results through manual systems, although it is not as fast as we would like,” said Mvambi.
