Juta MedicalBrief

A Gauteng High Court judge has reserved judgment in the case between Novo Nordisk and iDexis in which the pharmaceutical giant seeks to prevent the Pretoria pharmacy from manufacturing and distributing unregistered and unapproved copies of its popular diabetes and weight-loss drugs, Ozempic and Wegovy, according to Rapport. iDexis denies that its compounded products infringe on Novo’s intellectual property for the two drugs. During last week’s battle, the court heard that a single medical practice, which is one of the pharmacy’s biggest clients, has more than 40 000 patients on its books. Dr Tommie Smook apparently has 41 220 patients on his...

Violence and extortion are targeting the poorest and the most vulnerable communities in South Africa, choking access to clinics and medical care, and terrorising both patients and staff, reports The Guardian. The crime is widespread: at Khayelitsha’s Town Two Clinic in Cape Town, three gunmen showed up just 10 minutes after the security guards had arrived for the early morning shift. Tshiamo Nere admits he was “frozen” with shock and could only stare as the men aimed their weapons at him and two colleagues, as screaming nurses and patients fled. They had a message, the men told the unarmed guards. “They...

Experts have called for stronger cyber-security measures to be implemented countrywide, warning that South Africa is the most targeted country in Africa by these attacks – more than 1 000 a week – and that healthcare institutions are increasingly shifting into the crosshairs of the hackers, reports TimesLIVE. Recent research by Unarine Jerritha Manari, a senior cyber security specialist and researcher in the scientific research, development and innovation sector at Nelson Mandela University in Gqeberha, showed significant vulnerabilities in the country’s healthcare system and highlighted the urgent need for safety and security measures to be reinforced. Manari said healthcare organisations across...

Fake and unregistered doctors in South Africa are becoming harder to identify, according to the South African Medical Association (SAMA), which told The Citizen the methods used by these fraudulent practitioners have become increasingly sophisticated. These conmen may present forged qualifications, falsified registration documents, or assume the identities of legitimate practitioners, and where verification processes are inadequate or inconsistently applied, they can “evade detection for extended periods”. “Additionally, many patients do not routinely verify a practitioner’s credentials before seeking treatment, often relying on appearances, recommendations, or the setting in which services are offered,” SAMA warned. “Detection frequently occurs only when concerns are...

Three Health Department officials are being investigated in connection with the awarding of the R800m Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) Oxygen Plant tender from the Independent Development Trust (IDT), reports IOL. Responding to parliamentary questions from EFF MP Moshome Patrick Motubatse, Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Dean Macpherson said his department had extended the scope of the investigation into allegations of serious maladministration, fraud and corruption after a request by Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi to scrutinise his officials’ role in the tender, managed by IDT on behalf of Health. Macpherson added that although the officials don’t fall into the jurisdiction of his...

Hundreds of unemployed doctors protested outside the KwaZulu-Natal Premier’s office in Pietermaritzburg yesterday, accusing the provincial Department of Health of lying and failing to honour promises to create desperately needed posts, The Witness reports. Despite public facilities battling staff shortages, the province’s inability to absorb qualified medical professionals is frustrating and concerning, they said. Secretary of the KZN Unemployed Doctors Association Dr Simphiwe Sibiya said that the department had promised to release 300 doctor posts last year but ultimately advertised only 110 vacancies. The doctors were no longer interested in assurances and wanted decisive action from the government, he added. The group called...

Tens of thousands of South Africans are dying annually from diabetes-related illnesses, the Diabetes Alliance has revealed after its review of mortality data released by Stats SA showed that it was the leading underlying natural cause of death in 2023, accounting for 27 692 lives lost, reports TimesLIVE. This was about 5.8% of all recorded fatalities – and the second year in a row that diabetes had topped the list of natural causes of death. Linked to an average of about 78 deaths every day, diabetes was followed by cerebrovascular diseases, including strokes, at 5.4% of recorded deaths, while hypertensive diseases...

A contraception shortage in some North West and Gauteng clinics for the past three or four months is increasing women’s concerns about unplanned pregnancies, reports Health-e News. Several women in the North West region said they had last been given their three-month supplies in February. “When I asked when they would have stock of my pill, they said they weren’t sure, that I must keep checking with them,” one said. “I am really worried. This gives me sleepless nights. I can’t afford another child. I hope they sort this issue out soon.” Another woman who has been on Nur-Isterate – the two-monthly injection...

Cardiovascular disease (CVD), the world’s leading cause of mortality, is becoming a major killer of Africans, killing more than 1m people in sub-Saharan Africa each year and closer to home, affecting a fifth of Discovery Health Medical Scheme’s 2.7m members in 2025, reports News24. Discovery’s latest HealthTrend26 report, released last week, showed that CVD, mental health conditions, diabetes and cancer accounted for 84% of chronic care expenditure, and that the conditions also increasingly overlap, with more than half of scheme members now living with multiple chronic conditions. But while current statistics suggest an alarming “impending tsunami” as cardiac mortality is expected...

New ICU and high-care beds as well as a seventh operating theatre at Busamed Gateway Private Hospital are indications of the growing healthcare demand north of Durban, say Busamed and Growthpoint Healthcare Property Holdings of their R60m infrastructure expansion at the Umhlanga facility, where construction is currently under way on further developments to increase capacity. Moneyweb reports that the hospital expansion forms part of a targeted growth model managed by Growthpoint Investment Partners, the fund management business of JSE-listed Growthpoint Properties, which oversees R7.3bn in specialised assets under management across South Africa. The capital investment is directed toward expanding critical surgical...

A new R2.7m liver perfusion machine that could save more lives has been introduced at the Wits University Donald Gordon Medical Centre, making it the first transplant centre in Africa to use the technology, reports TimesLIVE. The machine, introduced through a partnership between the centre, Surgeons for Little Lives and corporate sponsor Weelee, keeps donor livers functioning outside the body while doctors assess and improve their condition before a transplant. It is currently the only device of its kind on the continent, said Professor Jerome Loveland, head of solid organ transplantation at the medical centre. Doctors said the technology could increase the...

Dis-Chem says its R300m investment in its innovation hub – X, bigly labs – among other projects last year, was intended to force an “internal disruption”, to “stay relevant and ultimately to benefit from that” in the long term, reports Moneyweb. The outlay was expected to generate returns greater than this number in the coming financial year, said CEO Rui Morais. “You either stay safe but become irrelevant over time, and there’re lots of examples in South African retail where that’s happened, or you go through a process of internal disruption to stay relevant and to ultimately benefit.” Had the company “stayed...

Human Rights Watch has warned in a recent report that America’s bilateral health pacts with African countries – and its condition that the US will gain access to lifesaving global health aid – “jeopardise human rights” and could require abortion surveillance and undermine patient privacy, reports The Independent. The rights groups said the agreements with seven African countries will allow Washington to access surveillance data and allow extractive rights to samples for pharmaceutical development. Senior HRW health researcher Julia Bleckner said Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Liberia and Uganda were being squeezed to accept agreements that “condition vital health assistance for...

The British Government is considering updating rules on what it views as unhealthy food – which could mean popular cereals like bran flakes, frequently regarded as “healthy”, being classed as junk food, reports The Guardian. The new government reforms designed to promote healthy eating are likely to be met with a backlash from some members of the public. For decades, the United Kingdom has been one of the world’s largest consumers of puffed, flaked and sugared breakfast cereals, despite warnings over the years that they might not be nutritious. Officials say they want to update the UK nutrient profiling model (NPM)...

Ghana’s Parliament recently invited an anti-vaccine Kenyan and a conservative Dutch activist campaigning to curtail the WHO to address visiting MPs on “health sovereignty”, reports Health Policy Watch. Ghanaian President John Mahama – who is championing African “health sovereignty” via an initiative called the Accra Reset – was a keynote speaker at the WHO’s World Health Assembly last month, and is drumming up international support for the initiative. Yet Ghanaian Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin, a leader in Mahama’s National Democratic Congress, hosted Dr Wahome Ngare and Wilmer Hak, from ultra-conservative Christian Council International (CCI), who made inflammatory claims about the WHO,...

A Limpopo man who murdered his wife, a nurse who was on duty at Lebowakgomo Hospital at the time, has been sentenced to life imprisonment, reports IOL. Molabe Seribishane (56), from Mafefe, was convicted of murdering Mumsy Seribishane after fatally shooting her in October 2024. National Prosecuting Authority regional spokesperson Mashudu Malabi said Seribishane had previously threatened his wife and violated a protection order granted in 2023. On the day of the murder, he had arrived at the hospital with a semi-automatic gun and shot his wife before fleeing. He was arrested a month later, and found in possession of a firearm...