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Friday, 4 July, 2025

FOCUS: PUBLIC HEALTH

Gavi scrambles to replace billions lost with withdrawal of US support

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The Gates Foundation has renewed its commitment to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, after US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. accused it last week of  “ignoring safety” – without providing evidence – and saying America would no longer contribute funding to help buy vaccines for the world’s poorest children, writes MedicalBrief. Kennedy said he admired much of Gavi’s work, particularly its efforts to make medicines affordable worldwide. “Unfortunately, in its zeal to promote universal vaccination, it has neglected the key...
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FOCUS: MEDICO-LEGAL

After 25 years and R20m, ‘Dr Death’ seeks permanent stay order against HPCSA

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Over the course of a quarter of a century, the Health Professions Council of SA has tried and failed at a cost of more than R20m to sanction Dr Wouter Basson for professional misconduct related to his role as  former head of the apartheid government’s secret chemical and biological warfare programme. Basson has now applied for a permanent stay of proceedings, accusing the HPCSA of “ulterior motives”. His advocate, Jaap Cilliers SC, in his written submissions in a Gauteng High...
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NEWS UPDATE

Political battle over Discovery Medical Scheme trustee election

There was such a flurry of electioneering by nominees vying for three trustee positions becoming vacant this year at Discovery Health Medical Scheme that the AGM was changed to an online only event (last week), “due to operational considerations and circumstances” beyond the company’s control, the company said. The DHMS AGM, which usually attracts around 200 attendees, was moved online during the pandemic, but as this eased, the board of trustees continued with a hybrid approach, in which the AGM was hosted virtually as well as in-person, reports News24. However, this year, DHMS told members it was again hosting its AGM...

Jobless Cuban-trained doctors desperate for posts

Two dozen young doctors are sitting at home unemployed after completing their training – funded by the Free State government through the Nelson Mandela-Fidel Castro (NMFC) Bursary programme – and their community service, despite being contractually obliged to work for the province for the number of years for which they were funded. They said their appeals to the provincial government had been unsuccessful – yet while authorities acknowledge the dire situation, “employing these young professionals after internship and community service is not a statutory obligation”, they said. According to *Thabo, one of the programme’s beneficiaries who asked to remain anonymous, all efforts...

KZN Health MEC accused of cadre deployment

Several appointments in KwaZulu-Natal have come under scrutiny amid allegations of cadre deployment levelled against Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane, with accusations that she and close associates have influenced the appointment of hospital board members linked to the ANC, reports IOL. Sources says recent appointments lack transparency and merit – the controversy escalating after a formal complaint was lodged with the department, and prompting questions about the integrity of the appointment process. The catalyst was a letter by Ndunankulu Dlamini in Richmond, traditional leader of Esiphahleni under the Esiphahleni Traditional Council, who had applied to serve as a board member at Richmond...

Without Chinese data, Covid origins will remain a mystery – WHO

An expert group from the World Health Organisation has failed to find a definitive answer to Covid-19’s origins, the scientists saying they still aren’t sure how the pandemic – the worst health emergency in a century – began. That was the unsatisfying conclusion in a final report from the group charged by the WHO to investigate the pandemic’s origins, according to Euronews. Marietjie Venter, the group’s Chair, said at a press briefing that most scientific data support the hypothesis of the new coronavirus jumping to humans from animals. That was also the conclusion drawn by the first WHO expert group that investigated...

‘Toilet rolls for R300 000’ – Gauteng Health still does dodgy deals

The DA has demanded that the Gauteng Health Department stop buying from companies linked to the fishy Tembisa Hospital contracts, which resulted in the murder of whistleblower Babita Deokaran after she tried to halt them. In a statement in Politics Web, Jack Bloom, Shadow Health Minister for the party, said it was outrageous that R327 000 was paid last year for toilet rolls from Nokokhokho Medical Supplies – one of three companies owned by ANC Ekurhuleni Treasurer-General Sello Sekhokho, which got 55 contracts worth R14.5m from Tembisa Hospital from 2019 to 2021. The costly purchase was revealed by Gauteng Health MEC...

Gauteng Health denies ‘bodies piling up’ at hospital morgue

There are no unclaimed bodies piling up at Helen Joseph Hospital, Gauteng Health has said after claims of multiple unclaimed bodies left in limbo due to a lack of printer cartridges required to process post-mortem documentation, and amid calls by the DA for more accountability, SowetanLIVE reports. The denial follows concerns raised by both the DA and the Funeral Industry Reformed Association about administrative failures they say are preventing the transfer of corpses from the hospital’s mortuary for autopsies. Department spokesperson Motalatale Modiba admitted the hospital had experienced printing service issues between 17 June and 23, but he said contingency plans...

Contaminated water detected in most SA school storage tanks

A national water testing campaign has found that most water storage tanks at South African schools are contaminated, and unfit for human consumption, while tap water and river water samples also showed high levels of bacteria, reports Mail & Guardian. Of 19 tank water samples tested in eight provinces, 14 contained bacterial contamination, including E coli, rendering the water unfit for human consumption. Of the 53 schools that upload valid data, 23 returned results showing water that was unsafe to drink. In total, 43% of the 53 samples tested showed bacterial contamination – this included 23% of tap water sources and...

Fake Covid interview with Prof Karim slammed by Health Department

A video falsely portraying Professor Salim Abdool Karim criticising Covid-19 vaccines has been denounced as disinformation, according to the Centre for the Aids Programme of Research in South Africa (Caprisa) and the Department of Health, which told News24 the “fabricated and harmful” video forms part of a broader misinformation campaign. Epidemiologist Karim, now Caprisa’s director, was chairperson of the Ministerial Advisory Committee during the pandemic, but in the AI-generated video, circulated widely on social media, he is falsely shown in an interview with SABC news anchor Oliver Dickson. During the fabricated exchange, the professor appears to claim that Covid-19 vaccines are...

New charges for Harvard scientist in frog embryo smuggling case

A Russian-born scientist from Harvard Medical School who was accused of smuggling frog embryos into the United States was indicted last Wednesday on additional charges nearly two weeks after her lawyers secured her release from US custody. Boston prosecutors said a grand jury returned an indictment charging Kseniia Petrova (30), with one count of concealment of a material fact, one count of false statement and one count of smuggling goods into the United States. In May, she had been charged only with smuggling – she had first denied carrying biological material in her luggage – and the new charges were filed after her...

MEDICO-LEGAL

Judge scathing of ‘expert’ evidence in child’s brain injury case

Medical experts who concluded – merely by looking at photographs – that a child had suffered brain injuries after a car accident, came under fire from an acting judge in the Gauteng High Court, who accused them of misleading the court and said this constituted “professional misconduct”, reports IOL. A neurosurgeon had testified that by looking at the pictures of the boy, six years after the accident, he could see that the child had swelling on his head. This despite a CT scan done immediately after the accident finding that there was no brain injury. None of the hospital records...

UK police arrest hospital bosses for gross negligence manslaughter

Three senior hospital managers have been arrested by British police on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter as part of investigations into nurse Lucy Letby, convicted two years ago of killing babies in a neonatal unit in Chester, England, reports Reuters. Letby (35), is serving a life sentence after being found guilty of murdering seven newborns and attempting to murder eight more between June 2015 and June 2016 while she was working at the Countess of Chester Hospital (CoCH). Described as Britain’s worst serial child killer of modern times, Letby has consistently maintained her innocence but has been refused permission to appeal...

Checkers employee’s dismissal for Covid mask violation upheld

A former Checkers employee was unsuccessful in his bid to get his job back after being fired for failing to wear a mask during the Covid-19 outbreak, the court saying he had been well aware of the rules and legal mandates at the time. IOL reports that Kamogelo Ramogotwane, through the South African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union (SACCAWU), brought a review application in the Johannesburg Labour Court seeking to overturn a decision made by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA). Ramogotwane had, during the CCMA proceedings, acknowledged his failure to wear a mask – a requirement imposed both...

Prison warden fired for refusal to take inmate to hospital

A former Department of Correctional Services (DCS) employee has been dismissed for insubordination after refusing to escort an ill inmate to hospital, the order coming after the DCS successfully appealed a previous ruling made by the Labour Court in Johannesburg. The court heard that when he had initially refused to carry out the instruction, he had said he was leaving work early because it was his birthday; then when he was confronted with dishonesty, said it was his wife’s birthday, and then the third time, flatly refused, saying he was going to lunch. Sanction IOL reports that the Labour Court had set...

UK Appeal Court: 'Reckless disregard' and spinal injury in rugby match

A British Court of Appeal (CoA) has upheld a ruling that a rugby player who ran full speed into an opponent was liable for the latter’s serious spinal injuries, with the judge describing him as negligent, reports Law Gazette. Tom Clark, the defendant, was playing as an open side flanker for Midsomer Norton, while Omar Elbanna, the claimant, was a prop forward for Cheltenham Tigers during a match on 7 October 2017. While chasing the ball, Clark collided with the claimant, causing him to suffer a serious spinal injury. Elbanna sued Clark, alleging the collision was negligently made by the defendant with...

Tembisa Hospital ‘kingpin’ nailed by SARS on tax charges

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has swooped on Tembisa Hospital “syndicate kingpin” Stefan Govindraju – linked to more than 56 shell companies that raked in some R450m through dodgy tenders in two years – and hauled him to court on criminal tax charges. He appeared in the Roodepoort Magistrate’s Court last week charged with failure to submit tax returns for Fuligenix, a little-known business he controls. Govindraju was first linked to the Tembisa Hospital scandal after the murder of Gauteng Health’s chief accountant Babita Deokaran in 2021, who had uncovered irregularities in the East Rand hospital’s procurement section three weeks before...

‘Toilet rolls for R300 000’ – Gauteng Health still does dodgy deals

The DA has demanded that the Gauteng Health Department stop buying from companies linked to the fishy Tembisa Hospital contracts, which resulted in the murder of whistleblower Babita Deokaran after she tried to halt them. In a statement in Politics Web, Jack Bloom, Shadow Health Minister for the party, said it was outrageous that R327 000 was paid last year for toilet rolls from Nokokhokho Medical Supplies – one of three companies owned by ANC Ekurhuleni Treasurer-General Sello Sekhokho, which got 55 contracts worth R14.5m from Tembisa Hospital from 2019 to 2021. The costly purchase was revealed by Gauteng Health MEC...

Ambulance driver wins, lawyer found negligent, in RAF case

A Cape Town law firm – W Van Der Schyff Attorneys – has been found to have been negligent in dealing with a Road Accident Fund (RAF) damages claim by its client, an ambulance driver involved in a collision in 2011. William van der Schyff, who was responsible for pursuing the claim against the RAF, was also found to have breached the mandate due to the negligence, reports the Cape Times. Donovan Moose claimed that because of the lawyer’s breach of the agreement – or the breach of its legal duty to him – his RAF claim had prescribed as the lawyer had...

Probe into death of North West psychiatric patient

A nine-member investigation team has been appointed by North West Health MEC Sello Lehari to probe the death of a long-term patient at Witrand Psychiatric Hospital, and another case involving a patient who allegedly absconded from Mahikeng Provincial Hospital. North West Health Department spokesperson Tshegofatso Mothibedi told The Citizen the investigation team, led by Professor John Tumbo, comprises experienced managers from diverse disciplines and would present its findings to the MEC by 1 August. Workers at Witrand Hospital allege that the lack of adequate food, toiletries, and regular power outages has contributed to patient illnesses and deaths. Additionally, they said equipment...

SOME RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS IN THE PAST WEEK

CARDIOVASCULAR

US Heart attack deaths down 90% over five decades, other heart deaths rise

Heart disease mortality has decreased over the past five decades but there is an increasing burden of mortality from other heart conditions including heart failure, hypertensive heart disease, and...

HARM REDUCTION

Calls for more stringent vape regulation in South Africa

An editorial in BusinessLIVE has called for the government to rein in the manufacturers of vapes and subject them to the same regulatory control as the purveyors of cigarettes...

MENTAL HEALTH

Mental health risk doubled with autoimmune disease – Scottish study

A study of UK data from more than 1.5m people suggests that having an autoimmune disease could almost double the risk of mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety and...

PAEDIATRICS

Treatment of malnourished children challenged: UK-MSF study

A study has called for another look at existing global treatment guidelines in treating children with critical levels of malnutrition, suggesting that dated recommendations against safely rehydrating intravenously –...

REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH

Gut bacteria tied to fertility issues in women with PCOS – Chinese study

Research by a team of scientists in China has suggested that women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) have lower levels of a specific gut microbe, which they say may...

SURGERY

Less invasive anaesthesia option for thorascopic resection – Dutch trial

A nerve block approach proved superior on some measures to epidural for thoracoscopic anatomical lung surgery, according to a Dutch randomised trial. In their findings of their OPtriAL study, published...

NHI

Contrary to the naysayers, NHI's promises 'equity for all'

Universal health coverage is a huge goal, and a necessary one, despite what the naysayers say. It is about reaffirming our commitment to humanity, to the values espoused in...

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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