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Wednesday, 25 February, 2026

FOCUS: NHI

NHI setbacks delay implementation further

Venilla Yoganathan - 0
The National Health Insurance (NHI) suffered two setbacks this week, with the scheme being temporarily suspended pending a Constitutional Court challenge, further delaying its implementation (see story below), and the Finance Minister yesterday declining to cut back on medical tax credits. In his Budget Speech yesterday, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana ignored the Health Department’s call last year for medical tax credits to be phased out to help fund the NHI – potentially starting with high-income earners as soon as April...
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NEWS UPDATE

Mediclinic wins round one in dialysis row with Life Healthcare

Medicinic has emerged victorious in its first round against against Life Healthcare Group’s bid to continue offering renal dialysis services at five Mediclinic hospitals, including Vergelegen, Morningside, Panorama, Potchefstroom and Newcastle. The Cape Times reports that the Competition Commission’s favourable ruling for Mediclinic was made while investigations are ongoing into the complaint regarding the exclusion of Life Healthcare Group (Pty) Ltd and Life Renal Care (Pty) Ltd (collectively Life) from providing in-hospital dialysis services to patients. The tribunal dismissed the application for interim relief brought by Life against Mediclinic Southern Africa (Pty) Ltd and Mediclinic Renal Services South Africa (collectively Mediclinic). Mediclinic...

Convicted fraudster gets CEO job at Free State hospital

Free State Health has appointed convicted fraudster Zongezile Adam Zumane – with no healthcare background – as CEO of Senorita Nhlabathi Hospital, exposing the extent of political patronage networks operating within the department, according to multiple insiders and whistle-blowers. City Press reports that the decision sidelined the competent acting CEO, Mbulelo Diba, who has six years of experience. Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi was also taken aback by the controversial appointment and has contacted the Free State Government to demand answers In 2012, Zumane was convicted of defrauding Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality of more than R5m between 2000 and 2005, with the broader criminal...

SCA dismisses RAF appeal over hospital claims rulings

The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has dismissed with costs an application by the Road Accident Fund (RAF) to appeal a judgment, slamming the fund for refusing to abide by 181 court orders in favour of Sunshine Hospital in Benoni, which was forced to close down. Moneyweb reports that it was owed millions by the RAF for outstanding claims. The RAF had made several unsuccessful attempts to obtain leave to appeal the November 2023 judgment by the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria), and thereafter applied to the SCA president for reconsideration of the dismissal. On 6 August last year, the SCA president then...

Medscheme, Bonitas tender battle escalates

Medscheme says it has evidence – supplied by whistle-blowers – that tender processes used by Bonitas Medical Fund to award contracts, including to Momentum Health and Private Health Administrators (PHA), were allegedly “manipulated and compromised”, reports News24. Two months ago Medscheme approached the Gauteng High Court to stop Bonitas from awarding certain tenders, alleging in court papers that former AfroCentric executives had conspired to improperly influence procurement decisions made by Bonitas. Medscheme is owned by AfroCentric, a Sanlam subsidiary. However, last month, despite the pending court proceedings, Bonitas announced that it had appointed Momentum Health as its new administrator, effective 1 June,...

SAHRC orders Northern Cape Health to fix mental hospital mess

The SA Human Rights Commission has given the Northern Cape Department of Health 60 days to sort out the appalling state of the Northern Cape Mental Health Hospital in Kimberley after its report uncovered a litany of shocking conditions, including a year-long power outage that caused the deaths of two patients. The electrical issue had forced families to arrange their own undertaking services after the mortuary shut down, but other systemic failures included medication melting in 45°C pharmacy conditions, and no maintenance staff since 2020, reports News24. The SAHRC report, which unpacked the failures of the department that led to the...

Cipla joins legal challenge as Aids drug tender row escalates

The Department of Health’s controversial Aids drug tender is under fresh attack, after Cipla filed an application in the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) last week seeking to scrap the R15.5bn contract, joining a legal challenge launched last year by Hetero SA, the local subsidiary of Indian generic manufacturer Hetero. Business Day reports that both companies want answers to how the department evaluated bids and divided up contracts for the daily three-in-one pill taken by most of the country’s HIV patients. Cipla accuses officials of failing to tackle alleged collusive bidding, of botching the allocation of preference points used in scoring rival...

Previously-red-flagged firms score new oxygen tender contracts

The Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA) appears to have awarded a new R379m contract for hospital PSA oxygen plants countrywide to companies previously disqualified in the red-flagged Independent Development Trust (IDT) tender process for the same equipment, News24 reports. One of those companies, BC Gas Installations Cape Town, seems to have bid for the now-cancelled IDT tender using a competitor’s email address – a competitor still holding an active IDT contract, according to internal IDT procurement documents seen by News24. Six of the 10 companies shortlisted for DBSA’s contract also competed in the IDT process, raising questions about how much...

SA sanitary pad suppliers probed after study finds harmful chemicals

The National Consumer Commission (NCC) has opened an investigation into nine sanitary pad and panty liner suppliers, after a University of the Free State study found endocrine-disrupting chemicals in several products that are available countrywide, reports eNCA. Manufacturers have already responded that the levels of chemicals found fall within international regulatory frameworks, and do not pose a health risk – and have also expressed concern over the methodology of the study, which suggested the products contained endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) like parabens, phthalates and bisphenols (including BPA), and are linked to complications like hormonal imbalance, infertility, endometriosis and cancer. The tested products...

Pharmacist gets 10 years or R500 000 fine for GEMS fraud

A judge has given a pharmacy owner in Malamulele, Limpopo, a 10-year term behind bars or the option to pay a R500 000 fine, after he pleaded guilty to 18 counts of fraud involving the Government Employees Medical Scheme (GEMS). IOL reports that Tinyiko Gift Mangolele, who was sentenced by the Giyani Specialised Crimes Court, had initially been released on R5 000 bail in May 2025 while facing allegations of orchestrating medical aid fraud of R91 000 by submitting false claims for cashback and Green Cross shoes in lieu of prescribed medication. The claims were submitted on behalf of GEMS members “under...

MEC and paramedics clash looms in defamation case

A legal showdown between KwaZulu-Natal Transport and Human Settlements MEC Siboniso Duma and ALS Paramedics is expected to take place in the KZN High Court (Pietermaritzburg) in May, after the private ambulance company made a legal bid last week to gag Duma from making what it said were defamatory comments about it. But IOL reports that the court failed to make a final finding in the urgent application, with Judge Pieter Bezuidenhout saying that on the papers before him, he could not issue the gagging order ALS Paramedics sought. However, the court found Duma’s remarks – including claims that ALS Paramedics...

Lifestyles fuel rising hypertension among Gauteng young adults

Gauteng Health has warned of a rise in high blood pressure diagnoses among the province’s young adults, amid deteriorating lifestyle habits, reports The Citizen. Rising obesity, said the department, is fuelling diabetes, hypertension (once considered “an older person’s disease”), strokes and heart disease, with recent statistics showing at least half of South African adults are overweight. Gauteng residents are increasingly working long hours, living sedentary lifestyles, doing limited physical activity and increasing consumption of processed foods, coupled with alcohol and tobacco use. The province had recorded more than 67 000 newly detected cases of hypertension in the past 12 months, with more than...

Zimbabwe rejects $350m US health deal

A proposed $350m health funding agreement with the United States has been rejected by Zimbabwe after President Emmerson Mnangagwa described the deal as compromising national sovereignty, reports CGTN. The MOU which Washington had presented as the basis for future health assistance under its America First Global Health Strategy contained various unacceptable provisions, according to Zimbabwean officials, including a US request for direct access to health data for a specified period – which Harare viewed as excessive and intrusive. Additionally, the US had also wanted access to Zimbabwe’s critical mineral resources, further raising objections. Despite Zimbabwe’s stance, America’s health diplomacy efforts are gaining...

US proposes expensive alternative to WHO

America’s Health & Human Services department has proposed spending $2bn a year to re-create systems the country previously accessed through the WHO at a fraction of the cost, reports The Washington Post. After pulling out of the World Health Organisation, the Trump administration has now suggesting replicating the global disease surveillance and outbreak functions the United States once helped build and accessed, according to three administration officials briefed on the proposal. The US-run alternative would re-create systems likes laboratories, data-sharing networks and rapid-response systems the country abandoned when it announced its withdrawal from the WHO last year and dismantled the US...

Polio resurgence fears but US healthcare ill-prepared

With a leading United States vaccines adviser saying all vaccine recommendations may be reconsidered – despite a surge in infectious diseases – experts are bracing for more polio cases, while survivors say the medical system is not ready for polio, reports The Guardian. “We don’t have a healthcare infrastructure to take care of a polio outbreak,” said Grace Rossow, an operating-room communications co-ordinator in Illinois, who has long-term health issues after a case of polio as an infant. “They don’t know how to treat it. It is a massive problem if we have a resurgence of the disease.” There is no cure for...

GEMS given seven days to respond to union demands on steep hikes

The Government Employees Medical Scheme (GEMS) has seven days to respond to the Public Servants Association’s demands to withdraw the 9.8% contribution hike for 2026, and for the scheme’s management to step down, reports eNCA. Members of the PSA who marched through Durban last week in protest have slammed the increase, which they said outpaces inflation and wage growth, undermines affordable healthcare, and was imposed without proper consultation. Nondumiso Mvubo, chairperson of the union’s health and social development branch, said workers were struggling. “We pay about R7 000 and yet they say the employer is subsidising it. But when you compare it...

High Court date set for Kimberley Mental Hospital fraud case

Ten people – including a former Northern Cape MEC – will appear before the Northern Cape High Court in April on fraud and corruption charges linked to the construction of Kimberley Mental Hospital, reports The Citizen. The project, which began in 2005, spiralled from a R297m budget to more than R1bn, with various delays, poor workmanship, irregular procurement processes, and repeated contractor changes being cited as contributing factors to the escalating costs, until the price had swelled to more than R1bn – three times the original budget. The case has been formally transferred from the Kimberley Magistrate’s Court to the Northern...

FDA probes salmonella outbreak linked to moringa

US health officials are investigating a salmonella outbreak linked to an easily available brand of moringa powder – from the tree of the same name, which claims to have healing properties – after consumers were admitted to hospitals across seven states, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and FDA. Authorities said seven cases, three of which resulted in hospitalisations, could be linked to the Rosabella-branded capsules, reports CBS News. Ambrosia Brands, the distributor, has voluntarily recalled potentially contaminated product lots of the powder capsules, which are packaged in a 60-count white bottle with a green lid and...

Eastern Cape doctor on bail after rape allegations

A doctor from the Eastern Cape was released on R5 000 bail last week after appearing in the Komani Magistrate’s Court on a charge of rape, the incident allegedly taking place at his practice earlier this month. IOL reports that Dr Phiwe Jafta (42) was arrested last Wednesday. According to SAPS Captain Yolisa Mgolodela, on 11 February, a 22-year-old woman reportedly visited the doctor’s practice to donate toddler clothing to his charity organisation, PJ Jafta Foundation. The doctor apparently offered the victim a “free whole-body examination” as a token of appreciation. “The victim alleged that she was then surprised when the doctor...

MEDICO-LEGAL

Another negligence claim – R6.4m – pummels Eastern Cape Health

In the second financial blow this month to the Eastern Cape Department of Health, the provincial Health MEC has been ordered to pay more than R6.4m to a child who suffered severe neurological injuries during birth in 2013, reports Daily Dispatch. The judgment was delivered in the Eastern Cape High Court (Makhanda) last week, shortly after the Eastern Cape High Court (Mthatha) recently ordered the MEC to pay more than R4.1m in a separate medical negligence claim. In the latest matter, the department accepted 100% liability for the injuries caused by its staff’s negligence. The court awarded R6 456 253, made up of R3...

Eastern Cape doctor on bail after rape allegations

A doctor from the Eastern Cape was released on R5 000 bail last week after appearing in the Komani Magistrate’s Court on a charge of rape, the incident allegedly taking place at his practice earlier this month. IOL reports that Dr Phiwe Jafta (42) was arrested last Wednesday. According to SAPS Captain Yolisa Mgolodela, on 11 February, a 22-year-old woman reportedly visited the doctor’s practice to donate toddler clothing to his charity organisation, PJ Jafta Foundation. The doctor apparently offered the victim a “free whole-body examination” as a token of appreciation. “The victim alleged that she was then surprised when the doctor...

Mother wants answers for 14-year-old’s death after childbirth complications

A heartbroken mother from Grassy Park, on the Cape Flats, is demanding answers for her 14-year-old daughter’s death, just weeks after giving birth, allegedly caused by an infection that spread through her body following delivery. Yvonne Mbina told the Cape Argus that her daughter, Sibahle Mbina, had given birth on 11 January at the Midwife Obstetrics Unit (MOU) of the Retreat Day Hospital and was discharged with her baby the same day. “After she was discharged, she was always complaining about her hip, and a few days later, she went back to the hospital for a check-up. On the Sunday, she...

SOME RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS IN THE PAST WEEK

ONCOLOGY

Why some breast cancers evade treatment – Texas study

Up to 20% of hormone receptor-positive breast cancers do not respond to anti-oestrogen therapies, and a study led by researchers at the University of Texas (UT) Southwestern in the...

Cats may hold clues for human cancer treatment – global study

Although cancer studies have been carried out extensively in dogs, cats have remained unexplored, until now – with the recent first detailed genetic map of cancer in pet cats...

PHARMACEUTICAL

Migraine drug trial advances after positive results

Danish pharmaceutical company Lundbeck will advance the IV formulation of its migraine prevention drug to phase 3 trials after the successful phase 2b trial, it has announced. Clinical Trials Arena...

More positive cancer drug data for auto-immune kidney disease

Continuing the reinvention of its cancer drug Gazyva as a treatment for immune-mediated diseases of the kidney – which resulted in a lupus nephritis nod last year – Roche is...

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