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Wednesday, 30 April, 2025

FOCUS: HIV/AIDS

Government inaction over HIV funding cuts puts millions at risk

Venilla Yoganathan - 0
The South African Government has been slammed for its deafening silence as the largest HIV treatment programme in the world implodes, heralding a wave of new infections, sickness and death, and further strain on an already over-burdened public health system. With President Cyril Ramaphosa being “too busy with the G20” and Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi, equally, being missing in action, scathing critics and activists warn that the cost of doing nothing is millions of lives at risk and a shattered...
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NEWS UPDATE

Hospital sued for refusing liver transplant for Zimbabwean child

An urgent High Court application due to be heard in Johannesburg soon may be too late to save the life of desperately ill Vanessa Mafu (15), the daughter of Zimbabwean parents, who is suffering from a life-threatening autoimmune disease that requires a liver transplant. Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital doctors have told her she does not qualify for a transplant from a South African donor, an explanation described by lawyers of the family as “blatantly xenophobic”. Her mother, Vuyelwa Ncube, was told by a doctor that she must have a valid visa or permit before her daughter receives life-saving medical treatment. Cited in...

No specific directive for AI to replace jobs, says Mediclinic

Mediclinic has issued a response to last week’s media reports about job cuts linked to the group’s artificial intelligence strategy, saying while AI initiatives were part of a broader costs rationalisation process, there is no specific directive where AI has been identified to replace full-time employees. The clarification comes after reports that the healthcare provider was implementing a freeze on non-essential hiring and offering severance packages as part of a strategy to save nearly R2bn by 2027 through AI implementation, reports Daily Maverick. ‘Measured transition’ to AI   According to additional information provided by Mediclinic, the group is focusing on a “measured...

Durban clerk arrested for practising medicine from dead GP’s office

A 52-year-old Bellair man arrested and charged with practising as a medical doctor without qualifications – for more than five years – was released on R2 000 bail this week. Ashley Ramsarup, a clerk by profession, and who is accused of working as a medical practitioner at a Chatsworth medical centre, was charged with fraud and contravention of the Health Professions Act 56 of 1974. IOL reports that he is alleged to have taken over the surgery of a Dr Muruvan, who died in 2020. The matter will return to court at the end of May for further investigation. His arrest formed part...

Two fires in three days at Tembisa Hospital

Fire disrupted services at Tembisa Provincial Tertiary Hospital on Wednesday after flames engulfed the Outpatient Department (OPD) – next to the Accident and Emergency Unit, which had caught fire on Saturday and which is still out of commission. The Gauteng Department of Health (GDoH) confirmed that a second fire broke out early yesterday, with Motalatale Modiba, head of communications, saying the situation was “being monitored closely, and further details will be released as they become available”. The extent of the latest fire has not yet been confirmed. After the weekend’s fire, emergency services had already been operating under a business continuity plan,...

Aspen warns of losses due to contract dispute

Aspen Pharmacare has warned that profits could be affected by a contract dispute, which is likely to shave off several billion from its manufacturing business. The dispute relates to a manufacturing and technology agreement with a manufacturing customer for mRNA products, it said, while an impairment of R770m in respect of related technology could also arise in 2025. In a statement, the company said that normalised earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation may be R2bn lower than previously guided, and that that this measure of profit could be less than 50% of what it reported for 2024. News24 reports that Aspen,...

Trump officially backs Wuhan lab leak theory

The Trump administration has replaced the government’s main portal for information about Covid with a new website arguing that the coronavirus leaked from a lab, a theory of the pandemic’s origins thus far not backed by direct evidence and which has divided intelligence agencies. Covid.gov and Covidtests.gov federal websites that used to deliver information about Covid and allow people to order tests, now redirect to the lab leak web page. Sporting an image of Donald Trump flanked by the words “Lab Leak”, the new page has a satellite image of Wuhan, China, and says it will describe “the true origins of...

Patient charged for assaulting nurse

A Limpopo patient has been arrested and charged with assaulting a nurse at Malamulele Hospital after admission, while a second man goes on trial in August for murdering a nurse, in an unrelated case. In the most recent case, Health Department spokesperson Kapudi Moagi said a patient, who had been admitted to the male ward after being involved in an accident, had refused treatment, and then assaulted a nurse, claiming his belongings were missing. The police were called and arrested him, reports IOL. Meanwhile, Fannie Malope Seribishane, a 57-year-old man accused of brutally killing a nurse, will undergo a trial in...

Moderna gets $176m to develop pandemic flu jab

The US has announced it will pay Moderna $176m to accelerate development of a pandemic influenza vaccine that could treat bird flu in people, as concern grows about cases in dairy cows across the US. Moderna already has a bird flu vaccine in very early-stage testing that uses the same mRNA technology used in the rapid development and rollout of vaccines against Covid-19. The new funds from the Department of Health and Human Services include continued development of the vaccine, and a late-stage trial next year if those early study results are positive. But the project can be quickly redirected to...

NHS approves robotic surgery for England

State-of-the-art robotic systems approved for use on the NHS could transform treatment for thousands of people across England, say health authorities, after the technology was given the green light by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) under its early value assessment programme. Offering a range of applications, from helping remove tumours to replacing a patient’s knee, the roll-out is expected to reduce hospital stays, speed up recovery times, and lower the risk of complications. The Independent reports that 11 systems have been approved, including five for soft tissue surgeries such as removing tumours, repairing hernias and removing gallbladders, and six for...

FDA approves trial of pig livers for dialysis-like treatment for liver failure

Researchers will soon test whether livers from a gene-edited pig could treat liver failure patients – by temporarily filtering their blood so their own organ can rest and maybe heal. The first-of-its-kind clinical trial has been cleared by the Food and Drug Administration, according to pig producer eGenesis, which announced the step last week with its British partner OrganOx. The Associated Press reports that the latest study, which is expected to launch later this year, is a twist on the quest for animal-to-human organ transplants. Researchers won’t transplant the pig liver but instead will attach it externally to study participants. The liver is the only...

Trump’s aspirin usage queried by experts

The issue of aspirin for people who have never had a heart attack has been highlighted again after findings from President Donald Trump’s annual physical exam were released last week, and observers noticed the persistent aspirin use recorded in the doctor’s report. Trump (78) has no apparent history of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and had normal results on ECG and echocardiogram. He had well-controlled hypercholesterolemia, supported by current use of rosuvastatin and ezetimibe (Zetia). Medpage Today reports that one line stood out, however: his ongoing use of aspirin for “cardiac prevention”. While it is acknowledged that there are people for whom aspirin’s benefits...

US NIH to probe cause of autism

US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr says environmental factors are contributing to autism’s rising prevalence, and that in assessing potential causes of the condition, he will be considering everything from mould to medicine to identify them. Kennedy has repeatedly contradicted both developing and established science on autism since his appointment to his post, echoing his previously disputed description of it as a preventable epidemic. He has also suggested it must be caused by an “environmental toxin”, in part because he did not know any people his age with autism. “This is a preventable disease. We know it’s an environmental exposure…it...

Indian firm recalls two dozen medications sold to US patients

FDA inspectors found serious problems at a Glenmark Pharmaceuticals factory in India that manufactured two dozen recalled drugs, while another medication made there has been tied to the deaths of US patients, according to a special ProPublica report. Glenmark – which has 12 manufacturing facilities in four countries – recalled the generic medicines sold to America because the factory failed to comply with US manufacturing standards and the FDA had determined that the faulty drugs could harm people, records show. In February, the FDA found problems with cleaning and testing at the plant in Madhya Pradesh, India, which was the subject of...

Be pro-active as cyber thugs target global healthcare sector

At one time, cyber criminals held off from attacking the world’s healthcare institutions for reasons of ethics, but no longer, says Shayimamba Conco, Cyber Security Expert at Check Point Software Technologies, a global leader in cyber security solutions. During the first three months of this year, Check Point Research reported that the healthcare and medical industry saw an average of 2 309 weekly attack attempts per organisation. This is an increase of 39% from the same timeframe last year. Figures from a separate Check Point Threat Intelligence Report over the past six months show that a South African healthcare organisation is attacked...

MEDICO-LEGAL

Health officials trained to handle medico-legal mediation

With medico-legal claims against state health facilities continuing to rise, the Health Department was moving ahead with plans to offer mediation before cases reached the litigation stage, notes MedicalBrief. Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said medico-legal claims had exceeded R1.1bn just since April 2024 alone, with the bulk of them from Gauteng. Cumulative costs breached R6.1bn between 2019 and 2023, according to the Minister’s response to parliamentary questions from DA MP Michele Clarke. Costs of the claims from April 2024 to date totalled R1 106 972 117,65, reports Cape Times, with Gauteng notching up R421m of this amount, followed by the Eastern Cape...

Controversial Cape Town oncologist may continue to practise, rules judge

A group of cancer patients who took legal action when a private hospital terminated a 15-year relationship with a controversial oncologist has triumphed in their court battle for continued care, with the judge saying the facility’s decision was unconstitutional. On 15 April, Western Cape High Court Judge Eduard Wille ruled on the case involving oncologist Louis Kathan – lauded for his “outstanding” results – allowing his continued presence at Life Care Vincent Palotti Hospital Complex in Pinelands. Terminating the relationship with Kathan “had constituted an interference with the rights to access healthcare services and was a breach of the negative obligations...

German palliative doctor charged with 15 counts of murder

Prosecutors have charged a doctor in Berlin – suspected of administering lethal amounts of medications to palliative patients – with 15 counts of murder. They also want a lifelong professional ban for the 40-year-old suspect, detained since August 2024, who had been active in several German states. The suspect, not officially named in line with German privacy laws, has not admitted the charges. Reuters reports that he was initially suspected of being involved in four deaths last year, which prosecutors said he had tried to cover up by setting fire to the victims’ apartments. However, ongoing investigations have turned up more suspected deaths,...

Weedkiller to settle suit over Parkinson’s claims

After thousands of lawsuits accusing its paraquat weedkiller of causing Parkinson’s disease, manufacturer Syngenta has entered into an agreement aimed at settling large swaths of those claims. A court filing in a Californian court last week confirmed that a letter of agreement had been signed between the parties, with one of the lead plaintiff lawyers, Khaldoun Baghdadi, saying the terms of the settlement should be completed within 30 days. There have been mounting calls from state and federal lawmakers to ban paraquat, with increasing numbers of Parkinson’s patients saying the company had not warned them of paraquat risks, reports The Guardian. Numerous scientific studies have...

SOME RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS IN THE PAST WEEK

CARDIOLOGY

‘Heart patch’ could help with transplant shortage – German study

Worldwide, about 20 people die every day while waiting for an organ transplant, but a promising advance from German scientists offers a potential solution – a “heart patch” made...

WOMEN’S HEALTH

Blood test on the cards to predict postpartum blues – US study

A simple blood test may soon be able to predict postpartum depression before symptoms appear, hinting at a future where treatments could shift from response to prevention for the...

DIABETES

Study links maternal diabetes to ADHD risk in children

Experts have issued reassurances after a recent study where researchers reviewed data from 56.1m pregnancies to probe possible connections between diabetes and ADHD, autism and intellectual disability. The scientists found...

ONCOLOGY

CT scan cancer risk warning – US study

A group of American physicians has warned that CT scans commonly taken to help detect injury and disease may be accompanied by an alarming risk – they might account...

ORTHOPAEDIC

Metals from implants could be leaking into CSF – German study

Researchers who found patients with metal-containing joint replacements had significantly higher concentrations of cobalt in their cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) than patients without arthroplasties said this could be relevant to...

RESPIRATORY

Experts pin down best time of day for asthma inhaler dosage

Mid-afternoon dosing with an inhaler has the biggest impact on the chances of night-time asthma worsening, British researchers of a small randomised trial have suggested, saying that for mild...

NEUROLOGY

Age, sex, hormones linked to dementia biomarkers – German study

Scientists say they have found important clues about the roles that age, sex, hormonal changes and genetics might play in how certain biomarkers for dementia are expressed in the...

ABOUT US

MedicalBrief is Africa’s authoritative weekly digest of medical matters, both on the continent and around the world. It brings you a succinct summary of the latest developments, both in news and research, with links to the original material. Contact us: info@medicalbrief.co.za

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