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Wednesday, 21 May, 2025

FOCUS: PRACTICE

Intern doctor's death sparks outcry over public health working conditions

Venilla Yoganathan - 0
The death of a young intern doctor at a state hospital has brought into focus the physical and mental toll on junior medical staff who have to work long, gruelling hours with little rest in understaffed public facilities, writes MedicalBrief. Dr Alulutho Mazwi (25), an intern in the paediatrics department Umlazi’s Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital who suffered from diabetes, died a week ago after allegedly being made to work despite reporting that he was unwell. A medical manager at the hospital has...
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NEWS UPDATE

President seeks top court intervention over NHI Act ruling

President Cyril Ramaphosa says the High Court was wrong in its ruling that found his decision to sign the National Health Insurance (NHI) Act into law could be reviewed, and has filed a notice indicating his intention to appeal the judgment by approaching the Constitutional Court directly. The case had been launched by the Board of Healthcare Funders (BHF) and the South African Private Practitioners Forum (SAPPF), and followed a ruling in their favour by the High Court earlier this month confirming that it did, in fact, have jurisdiction to hear the matter. At the time, reports The Citizen, Judge Mpostoli...

Budget trimmed, but emergency health funding likely

The Treasury’s latest iteration of the Budget, tabled by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana yesterday, reduces the provisional additional allocations to Health’s baseline announced in March, but the cuts will not affect plans to hire 800 unemployed doctors and other healthcare professionals. Additionally, section 16 of the Public Finance Management Act, which allows the Treasury to make allocations outside its usual Budget process, might be a considered option for extra funding for the Health Department. This comes on the heels of requests from the department for additional funding and the SA Medical Research Council (MRC) to plug the gaping hole left by...

HIV testing drops after aid cuts, but Minister denies system collapse

The government has defended its progress in dealing with the US funding cuts and their crucial impact on HIV and Aids programmes in South Africa, in particular, denying that this was in any danger of collapse. Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi lasy week also vehemently reiterated that there was no chance of South Africa begging the United States for help, notes MedicalBrief. His comments came a day after a Reuters report of ‘shocking’ drops in testing and monitoring of HIV patients across South Africa since the US aid cuts – with previously unpublished government data showing that viral load testing has dropped...

Cancer treatment stalls as Eastern Cape Health fails to pay chemo bills

The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has launched an investigation into the halting of treatment for cancer patients in Eastern Cape hospitals, after the provincial Health Department failed to pay suppliers for chemotherapy drugs. According to Dr Eileen Carter from the SAHRC, the DA had laid a complaint because desperate doctors are being forced to make decisions about who receives chemotherapy and who does not, with some oncology units having only a single vial of the potentially life-saving treatment left. Although Health MEC Ntandokazi Capa has promised that outstanding bills would be paid immediately, patients have already been turned away...

Gauteng doctors throw down the gauntlet on overtime

Fed-up Gauteng doctors have warned they will no longer work any overtime at all if they are not paid for it, after the provincial Health Department cut its budget for fixed overtime recently – and a number of staff were paid late this month. Some have not yet been paid for last month’s overtime, as previously reported in MedicalBrief. In a letter dated 7 May, the anaesthesia department at the Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital in Ga-Rankuwa, outside Pretoria, informed Dr Godfrey Mbara, the hospital CEO, that no anaesthesia services would be available from the following evening. “The … decision not to...

Eastern Cape Health hunts whistleblower

The DA in the Eastern Cape has called for Livingstone Hospital to be placed under administration, while its over-worked staff fear repercussions as the provincial Health Department probes the source of a letter, ostensibly from the surgery department, warning people of a doctor shortage at the facility. The notice told the public not to expect doctors to attend the outpatient clinics due to the shortage. However, the department described the letter as the work of “faceless individuals” who wanted to “destabilise” the institution, saying the only person authorised to write such a letter was Acting CEO Thembisa Notshe, and that it had...

Call for action after 155 children die of malnutrition this year

More accountability and urgent action have been called for after Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi admitted that so far this year, 155 children under five have already died of malnutrition in South Africa. Experts, however, say this number is not the full picture and are demanding a shift in strategy to avoid the tragedy of stunting and moderate and severe acute malnutrition. In answer to a parliamentary question by the DA, Motsoaledi said that since January 2025, 155 children have died in public health facilities, with moderate or severe acute malnutrition as an underlying condition. Most were in Limpopo (32), Gauteng (30) and...

AI won’t take jobs, Netcare CEO reassures

Although Netcare will be focusing on an ambitious digitisation strategy, staff need not fear losing their jobs and being replaced by artificial intelligence, the CEO said on Monday. The private hospital group is forging ahead with its digitisation strategy that will draw on AI capabilities, but CEO Richard Friedland believes the company’s natural attrition rate will take care of any decline in its staff requirements. “We’ve always relied on attrition rather than retrenchment, and we don’t foresee that changing even as we become more focused on AI,” he told Business Day, adding that Netcare was firmly committed to its digitisation strategy...

Global obesity increasing, warns new Heart Report

Two in three adults over 25 could be obese or overweight by 2050, experts have warned, saying lack of access to healthy food and green spaces, as well as a shift towards desk jobs and longer working hours, have all contributed to increasing levels of obesity. However, according to the newly released World Heart Report, which was compiled by the World Heart Federation, “game changing” medical interventions like weight loss jabs like Wegovy are showing positive steps in the battle of the bulge. Globally, the number of obese adults has quadrupled since 1990, from 194m to 878m in 2022 – a figure that is only...

US doctors’ concern over Biden's late cancer diagnosis

An announcement on Sunday that former US President Joe Biden (82) has aggressive incurable prostate cancer has raised concern among the medical fraternity, with many asking how his disease could have been missed, and saying that it should have been detected earlier. Responding to the statement, which said Biden had sought medical attention after experiencing urinary symptoms, and that the cancer has already metastasised to the bone, some doctors suggested the delay could be part of a wider “cover-up” of the ageing statesman’s health. They questioned why his prostate cancer, which can be detected early using routine blood tests recommended for...

SA man donates stem cells to patient in South America

When East London’s Bradley Peters (23) signed up with Matches on the Map, an inter-continental stem cell recruitment drive, he had no idea that he would be a potential match for someone living in South America. The apprentice mechanic had signed up at an awareness drive last year, and six months later, was told that his stem cells would be able to save another person’s life thousands of kilometres away. He told IOL that when he got the call, “I wasn’t sure if it was a scam as I had forgotten I had signed up to the SA Bone Marrow Registry”. He said he...

Warning for seniors after mosquito vaccine's adverse events, deaths

US health authorities have issued a warning to older travellers after two deaths were reported following vaccination against a mosquito-borne disease. The preventative jab against the viral chikungunya disease – transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes, the same species that spread dengue and Zika viruses – was approved in November 2023 by the FDA. Most people recover from the illness within a week, and deaths are rare, but people with other health conditions may be at higher risk. The Ixchiq vaccination, developed by Valneva to prevent chikungunya virus, is the first of its kind, and approved for anyone 18 and older who risk being...

FDA approves new drug for lung cancer

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a new medication from biotech company AbbVie that treats adults with a type of lung cancer who have received previous treatment. Reuters reports that the treatment, branded as Emrelis, belongs to a class of drugs known as antibody-drug conjugates, which act as “guided missiles” to target only cancer cells while sparing healthy cells, unlike conventional chemotherapy. Emrelis was approved for a type of non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), for which patients were previously treated with other drugs but where the disease still spread to other parts of the body. These patients also showed an...

SA universities help Gaza’s medical students beat the odds

Twenty-seven final-year medical students from Al-Azhar University and Islamic University in Gaza, who were displaced from their universities after they were destroyed by Israeli missiles, were recently able to complete their studies through the University of Cape Town and the University of the Witswatersand. The students arrived in South Africa last year to finish their medical studies so that they could graduate. Most of them escaped to Egypt through the Rafa border to get to South Africa, after their faculty deans had made arrangements with South African universities for them to complete their degrees. The NPO Gift of the Givers bade...

Covid cases rising in Asian countries

Covid-19 is making a quiet comeback in Asia, with fresh waves of infection being reported in several countries. In major cities like Hong Kong and Singapore, health authorities are now on the alert after a sharp rise in cases, while China and Thailand are also battling new outbreaks, prompting public health advisories and fresh calls for booster vaccinations. Hong Kong is seeing its highest Covid-19 positivity rate in more than a year, according to Albert Au, head of the Centre for Health Protection’s Communicable Disease branch, who said the percentage of positive respiratory samples has reached new highs. At the end...

Department denies foreign nations 'favoured' at Chatsworth hospital

The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health has slammed what is describes as false and misleading comments on social media claiming that RK Khan Hospital in Chatsworth prioritises foreign nationals over South Africans, notably in the prenatal unit. According to one post, 10 foreign nationals were “hogging” beds, preventing “scores of pregnant South African women from receiving care”. The department told IOL it strongly refutes these allegations. “After these reports, the department conducted an immediate assessment of the situation at the hospital. The findings clearly indicate that of the 40 patients admitted to the antenatal ward, only four were foreign nationals. Furthermore, all patients...

Eastern Cape GP fined R500 000 for tax evasion

Kurunalingam Chetty, a 54-year-old doctor from East London, was sentenced last Tuesday for contravening the Tax Administration Act and ordered to pay R500 000 for defrauding SARS of R1.8m. IOL reports he was also given a 10-year prison sentence suspended for five years. If he fails to pay the fine, he will serve five years in prison. Eastern Cape Hawks spokesperson Warrant Officer Ndiphiwe Mhlakuvana said Chetty’s sentencing followed his arrest in 2023 by the collaborative efforts of the East London Hawks Serious Commercial Crime Investigation, SARS and National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). The doctor, who has been out on R10 000 bail...

British mental health inquiry hears of ‘culture of fear’

A dire shortage of registered mental health nurses in England means that staff struggle to focus on therapeutic care, according to an expert witness at the country’s first mental health inquiry. He said that current staff are so scared of being blamed for things going wrong that they’ve lost all empathy for patients – that there were 13 000 vacancies for mental health nurses in England in 2023, with a 26% reduction in applications. Consultant psychiatrist Dr Ian Davidson, who was giving evidence last week at the Lampard inquiry, which is probing the deaths of 2 000 patients in Essex from 2000...

WHO pandemic agreement finally adopted

WHO member states have approved a resolution calling for the adoption of a global compact – after a more than three-year process, launched by governments during the Covid-19 pandemic – to address the gaps and inequities in preventing, preparing for and responding to pandemics. The agreement aims to foster stronger collaboration and co-operation among countries, international organisations like the WHO, civil society, the private sector and other stakeholders. It sets out several steps, including the crucial launch of a process to draft and negotiate an annex to the Agreement that would establish a Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing system (PABS) through an Intergovernmental...

Disease carried by African snails hits Europe

The potentially deadly disease schistosomiasis (commonly known as bilharzia), and carried by African snails, is spreading into Europe, scientists have warned. A neglected tropical disease, it is a parasitic infection caused by worms that naturally live in freshwater snails. The worms enter the human body by burrowing through the skin during contact with water in which the snails live – typically when people swim, paddle, or bathe in rivers and lakes. The Telegraph reports that once largely confined to sub-Saharan Africa, bilharzia is now appearing in parts of Europe due to increased migration and tourism, according to researchers gathered at the...

MEDICO-LEGAL

Midwife blames baby’s cerebral palsy on mother’s infection

Midwife Yolande Maritz Fouchee, facing 14 charges in the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) – including one of culpable homicide – and accused of causing infants to either die or be born disabled while she was in charge of delivering them, has denied any wrongdoing. In her pleas, Fouchee (48), now a deregistered nurse, said she did everything by the book when she delivered the babies. But on Tuesday, one of the mothers, Carien Möller, testified that it was Fouchee’s fault that her daughter had been born with cerebral palsy in July 2019. However, reports The Star, Fouchee claimed the child, Sophia, was...

Court orders ban on Adcock using painkiller’s name

The Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) has barred Adcock Ingram from selling and distributing its new painkiller, Lenbucod, finding it infringed Aspen’s Mybucod trademark rights – the latest trademark battle in an industry where companies are increasingly launching legal action to protect their territory. Aspen took Adcock to court after the latter launched Lenbucod in January, arguing that the name was confusingly similar to Mybucod and amounted to a trademark infringement. Business Day reports that Aspen had registered it in 2008 and has been using it for 17 years. Adcock opposed the application, contending that Aspen’s trademark was invalid and should not have...

$750m settlement for hundreds of sex abuse claims against gynae

Prestigious US institutions Columbia University and New York-Presbyterian Hospital have agreed to a $750m settlement of hundreds of sexual abuse claims by patients of disgraced and imprisoned former gynaecologist Robert Hadden, bringing total legal payouts in civil cases involving the ex-doctor to more than $1bn, according to the plaintiffs’ lawyer. Hadden, now 66, was accused of molesting patients during a decades-long career at leading New York City hospitals including Columbia University Irving Medical Centre and New York-Presbyterian. The Associated Press reports that he was convicted by a jury in 2023 of federal sex crime charges and sentenced to 20 years in federal prison. The new settlements,...

SOME RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS IN THE PAST WEEK

CARDIOLOGY

AI tech gives doctors preview of blood clots forming – Tokyo study

AI technology could be used to detect potentially deadly blood clots before they strike, according to research by scientists at the University of Tokyo, who say they have created...

Men twice as likely to die of ‘broken heart syndrome’ – US study

Women are less likely than men to die from the stress-related heart condition known as ‘broken heart syndrome’, suggests research, which found that despite the condition actually being more...

GENETICS

Infant with rare disease first to have CRISPR in-vivo gene editing

A research team supported by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has developed and safely delivered a personalised gene-editing therapy to treat an infant with a life-threatening, incurable...

Key differences in health risks for males and females – Berlin-UK study

An international study led by researchers from Queen Mary University of London’s Precision Healthcare University Research Institute (PHURI) has cast new light on the underlying biological mechanisms causing differences...

ONCOLOGY

Late first birth and weight increases breast cancer risk – UK study

A British study has suggested a link between weight gain and having children later in life with a heightened risk of breast cancer, finding that women who had significant...

Weight-loss jabs could halve obesity-linked cancer risks – Israeli study

Weight-loss jabs could almost halve the risk of obesity-related cancers, a landmark study has suggested, with experts calling the findings “transformational”, and saying they could herald a “whole new...

GYNAECOLOGY

Early periods can be tied to what girls eat – US study

The foods in a child’s lunchbox could influence whether they experience their first menstrual cycle too early, according to recent research, which found that a more inflammatory diet was...

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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