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Tuesday, 28 November, 2023

FOCUS: NHI

One step closer for NHI as NCOP committee adopts Bill, unchanged

Venilla Yoganathan - 0
Business groups which were hoping that the controversial NHI Bill clause relating to the role of medical schemes would be tweaked, were disappointed this week when a National Council of Provinces (NCOP) committee adopted the Bill with no changes, writes MedicalBrief. On Tuesday, the NCOP's Select Committee on Health & Social Services committee approved the Bill in its current form – despite extensive public submissions and recommendations – taking it a step closer to final approval by the ANC-dominated NCOP,...
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NEWS UPDATE

Construction and IT companies among 'food suppliers' to Gauteng Health

The Gauteng Department of Health, which has battled this year to ensure patients are fed adequately, has now contracted out-of-town companies to supply food to hospitals – most of them from Limpopo, and with construction, plant hire, IT companies and guest houses being included on the supplier list, notes...

Discovery's 'chronic cover’ ad misleading, regulator finds

The Advertising Regulatory Board (ARB) has ordered Discovery Health to qualify its claim to offer “comprehensive” chronic cover after a complaint by leading business executive Grant Pattison, whose positions have included CEO of Massmart Holdings and Edcon. Pattison lodged the complaint with the ARB against an advert for “comprehensive chronic...

Health Department slams cost of anti-HIV CAB-LA shot

Government is fuming over the newly announced price of the two-monthly anti-HIV injection from Viiv Healthcare, calling its non-profit price – between R540 and R570 per shot –exorbitant. The amount has come down from the previous R729 per jab, which wasn’t officially announced by ViiV, but was, for the past year, widely...

Full salary for North West health official despite 11-month absence

Despite not reporting for duty since January, a senior North West Health Department official facing misconduct and criminal charges related to alleged tender fraud has been paid nearly R600 000 in salaries this year. Vuyo Mbulawa, who blames his absence on the department’s “ill treatment” of him, and his resulting “severe...

New Crohn’s guidelines highlight use of stool biomarkers

New guidelines from the American Gastroenterological Association recommend biomarkers found in blood and stools be used in the management of Crohn’s disease, sparing some people with the disease from invasive procedures such as colonoscopies. The guidelines recommend using the C-reactive protein (CRP) biomarker in blood and the faecal calprotectin (FCP)...

UK first to approve CRISPR-based treatment for sickle cell disease

In a world first, medical regulators in the UK have approved a gene therapy that aims to cure two blood disorders – sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia – the first such treatment to be licensed using the gene-editing tool CRISPR, for which its discoverers were awarded the Nobel prize in...

Western Cape healthcare staff protest against Gaza attacks

Healthcare employees gathered outside the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital in Cape Town on Tuesday to protest against what they called “systematic and unprecedented attacks” on their Palestinian counterparts in Gaza. The picket was organised by the newly-formed Healthcare Workers for Palestine South Africa (HCW4PSA), as a response to...

‘Just let people die’, UK PM allegedly said during pandemic

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (the country’s Finance Minister during the pandemic) was quoted as saying the government should “just let people die” at the time, rather than impose a second national lockdown, the inquiry into how Britain handled the crisis heard this week. The inquiry is examining the government’s...

Northern Cape state hospital appeals for donations

The hospital committee at the government-run Martha Griffiths Community Health Centre in Port Nolloth, Northern Cape – which has been open only for a year – is appealing the public for donations after running out of medicines, cleaning supplies and toilet paper. The hospital committee has for appealed for donations...

Study flags treatment of vulnerable groups at KZN health facilities

Vulnerable groups like sex workers, drug addicts, and members of the LGBTQ+ community are still being denied access to medicine, clinics and hospitals, and being treated with hostility in KwaZulu-Natal, according to a report released last week by community-led monitoring group Ritshidze. On the up-side, however, waiting times have continued...

WHO launches commission to tackle loneliness

The World Health Organisation has launched a new Commission on Social Connection – to run for three years – in efforts to address loneliness as a pressing health threat, promote social connection as a priority, and accelerate the scaling up of solutions in countries of all incomes. Co-chaired by US...

Zimbabwe declares state of emergency over cholera outbreak

Zimbabwe has declared a state of emergency in Harare over a cholera outbreak that has killed dozens of people, with more than 7 000 suspected cases. Health authorities are struggling to contain the high number of hospital admissions, according to the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC), which cites...

Global measles cases and deaths rising, warns WHO

After years of declines in measles vaccination coverage, measles cases in 2022 increased by 18%, and deaths by 43% globally (compared with 2021), according to a report from the WHO and the US Centres for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), which said the statistics take the estimated number of...

Eswatini on track to end Aids by 2030

In 2020, Eswatini became the first African country to achieve the 95-95-95 target, well ahead of 2025, and since then, seems on track to end Aids by 2030 in a country that once had the highest HIV prevalence in the world. In 1991, in the former Swaziland, being diagnosed HIV-positive...

Cervical cancer can be eliminated by 2040: UK health boss

Cervical cancer can be eliminated in England by 2040, saving thousands of women’s lives, the head of NHS England said last week, the first time any NHS leader, senior doctor or Health Minister has raised the possibility of banishing any form of cancer within a set time period. Speaking at...

Fake Ozempic sends users to hospitals

The US Food & Drug Administration has launched a probe after at least three people were admitted to hospitals after using suspected counterfeit semaglutide drugs. Since frenzied sales of Ozempic and Wegovy – both semaglutide medications from Novo Nordisk – for their use in weight loss, the drugs have been in...

SA snakebite anti-venom shortage resolved

Stakeholders say South Africa’s health facilities now have sufficient supplies of snake anti-venom, after a drastic shortage earlier this year caused panic countrywide. In April, the National Snakebite Advisory Group wrote to Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla, asking him to ensure funding and emergency upgrades of equipment and backup power supply...

Cable theft affects three Kimberley hospitals

The theft of hundreds of thousands of rands worth of cables and other electrical equipment in the Sol Plaatje Municipality in Kimberley last week plunged two hospitals and the Mediclinic Gariep into darkness – for the second time in two months. The municipality planned to hold an emergency meeting with...

Netcare CEO delays retirement for six months

Hospital group Netcare said CEO Richard Friedland will remain at the helm of the business for a further six months beyond his original September 2024 departure date, as the preferred replacement candidate is “unavailable for an extended period”, reports BusinessLIVE. “Given that the candidate is unavailable for an extended period,...

MEDICO-LEGAL

GP fined for spreading false Covid information

A Pretoria GP has been found guilty by the Health Professions Council of SA of unethical conduct by disseminating false information about Covid-19 vaccines on Facebook. Beeld reports that Dr Tros Bekker pleaded not guilty in his disciplinary hearing, but was found guilty on a charge of unethical and professional conduct....

GP (85) pleads for lenient sentence in fake death certificate case

An 85-year-old doctor accused of issuing a fake death certificate, who previously claimed he was “too old for a trial”, is now negotiating a plea deal with the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), the Durban Regional Court has heard, and asking for a lenient sentence. Dr Eric van der Veen is...

SOME RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS IN THE PAST WEEK

CARDIOLOGY

Gene-editing cholesterol trial paves way for groundbreaking treatment

The treatment of a handful of patients with severe heart disease, who volunteered for an experimental cholesterol-lowering treatment using gene editing, has paved the way for the potential transformation of preventive cardiology, say experts. The patients, who suffered from heart attacks and pain, had been unable get their cholesterol as...

Sleeping beats sitting when it comes to heart health: UK study

A cross-sectional study investigating the impact of movement behaviour on cardiometabolic health suggests that replacing 30 minutes of daily sitting with equal time standing or even sleeping could improve obesity markers like body weight and waist circumference. While higher-intensity activity might confer benefits sooner, said the scientists, adding more light...

DIET

Swopping eggs for nuts could cut CVD risk – German review

Scientists say that what you eat for breakfast could reduce your risk of heart attack and strokes – if, for instance, you swop an egg for a handful of nuts, which their recent research suggested could reduce the risk of developing cardiovascular disease by up to 17%. Their investigation into “fashionable” plant-based foods,...

ONCOLOGY

Potential breakthrough for bladder cancer: Netherlands trials

After 40 years of treating metastatic bladder cancer with chemotherapy as a primary treatment, scientists now offer a new approach using immunotherapy combinations, with the outcomes of two studies presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) conference in Madrid potentially going to revolutionise the landscape of bladder...

TUBERCULOSIS

Clinical trial reveals 'breakthrough' treatment options for MDR-TB

Clinical trial results presented at the Union World Conference on Lung Health in Paris last week provided evidence to support the use of four new, improved regimens to treat multi-drug resistant tuberculosis – or rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis (MDR/RR-TB). The endTB clinical trial found three new drug regimens that can deliver similar efficacy and...

Common drug slashes risk of MDR-TB – SA-led study

A cheap, commonly available antibiotic pill halves the risk of people exposed to drug-resistant TB from contracting the particularly deadly strain of the disease, researchers announced last week. Tuberculosis is the second deadliest infectious disease, killing only slightly fewer people than Covid-19 last year. Every year an estimated 450 000 people...

OBSTETRICS

Two-minute delay in cord clamping helps preterm babies' survival rates, experts find

Recent research shows that if doctors wait at least two minutes after a baby’s birth to clamp the umbilical cord, they significantly improve in-hospital survival rates for premature infants, with experts saying the data are convincing, although it’s not entirely clear why the strategy seems to help. Delayed cord clamping...

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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