South Africa’s 230 health laboratories, which service 85% of the population, are back in action and all systems fully restored after the disruption and chaos caused by the cyber attack in June.
The digital felling of the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) caused major backlogs and processing delays countrywide at public health facilities, but Deputy Minister of Health Dr Joe Phaahla announced that operations had been fully restored.
The NHLS is the backbone of the public health services, managing a network laboratory system that plays a critical role in clinical outcomes and patient diagnosis, The Citizen reports.
“More than 70% of healthcare decisions depend on the NHLS’ services,” Phaahla said, welcoming its commitment to investing in advanced cybersecurity technologies and implementing new protocols designed to enhance both the security and resilience of its digital infrastructure.
The Citizen article – Laboratory operations fully restored 2 months after cyberattack (Open access)
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