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Thursday, 6 November, 2025

During this webinar, attendees will review the HPCSA Booklet 10: General Ethical Guidelines for Good Practice in Telehealth where the pertinent South Africa laws and basic principles around ethical practice for patient consultations and the accompanying administration will be explored. The webinar will offer insights into different types of telehealth and ethical guidelines with specific focus on the quality, security, and safety of patient records.

The audience will have an opportunity to listen and engage with clinical, legal, medical malpractice insurance, cybersecurity, and telehealth subject matter experts. During the webinar, a range of learning opportunities will be offered including short lectures, interactive case studies with a series of multiple choices questions, panel discussions, and audience Q&A.

This webinar will focus on specialist practices. Administrative staff working in these practices are welcome to join the discussion.

FOCUS: NHI

Medical aids irate over tax credit plans

Venilla Yoganathan - 0
As more details about plans to phase out medical scheme tax credits to fund the NHI are released by government, opposition from healthcare schemes and funders is mounting, with the Board of Healthcare Funders (BHF) now demanding urgent answers, notes MedicalBrief. The BHF has warned that phasing out medical scheme tax credits will eventually make membership unaffordable for up to 690 000 people, while the Health Funders Association says the proposals are irrational. News24 reports that the BHF has written to National...
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NEWS UPDATE

Court orders Operation Dudula to stop targeting migrants

Members of Operation Dudula have been interdicted from “taking the law into their own hands” and uttering hate speech in their “xenophobic” campaign against immigrants, writes Tania Broughton for GroundUp, with the court also granting an interdict preventing the organisation from demanding ID documents from the public. Gauteng High Court Judge Leicester Adams, in his ruling on Tuesday, directed the government to implement the National Action Plan to Combat Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and related intolerances. However, he refused to declare that the South African Police Service (SAPS) had breached its constitutional duties to combat and investigate related crimes and said...

Specialist family physicians take on big funders

Specialist Family Physicians (SFPs) – highly trained doctors devoted to whole-person care – are banding together to challenge the might of private medical funders who, they say, are crushing their profession and short-changing patients. For years, writes Chris Bateman for MedicalBrief, these unsung specialists have been mistaken for ordinary general practitioners (GPs) and paid accordingly. Yet SFPs complete four extra years of postgraduate training to qualify – the same as any other medical specialist. Their expertise strengthens the foundation of the health system by managing 80% of conditions that would otherwise burden hospitals. Still, funders treat them as second-class citizens. “We’re recognised...

Eastern Cape chemo patients left in the lurch after bungle

There appears to be no end to the problems affecting the Eastern Cape Department of Health, the latest mess coming after its account with a crucial chemotherapy provider was suspended, leaving patients once again at risk as the Port Elizabeth Provincial Hospital ran out of medication – and replacements were also delayed. After several days of stockouts, when a new batch was expected at the hospital, the department said it was still negotiating for its account with the manufacturer to be reopened for another drug needed, reports Daily Maverick. Several outages of chemotherapy were reported at the hospital where paediatric oncology...

Watchdog deepens Bonitas investigation

The Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) is to launch a forensic investigation into allegedly improper procurement processes at Bonitas, zeroing in on a contract to Private Health Administrators (PHA) to administer its low-income option, Boncap. Bonitas had denied the allegations. Business Day reports that the decision deepens the watchdog’s initial probe, triggered by a column in Business Day last year about Sanlam’s decision to move its employees from Bonitas to Fedhealth. Sanlam’s decision came shortly after the Bonitas trustees cancelled a long-standing contract with Afrocentric Distribution Services (ADS) to attract young members and appointed a service provider linked to a former ADS...

Premier urged to probe lax contractor paid millions for hospital project

Five years after a multimillion-rand hospital project began in Ulundi, KwaZulu-Natal, the job is still incomplete, with the provincial Public Works & Infrastructure Department now seeking to recover the money paid to the contractor, reports TimesLIVE. The project started at Nkonjeni Hospital in July 2020 and was supposed to take just 20 months to finish, but KZN Public Works MEC Martin Meyer has now approached Premier Thamsanqa Ntuli’s office calling for an independent forensic investigation, citing “serious irregularities, poor workmanship and possible financial misconduct”. In a formal letter to the Premier’s office, the department requested that the probe focus on: • possible...

Gauteng Health HoD asks court to lift suspension

An urgent application is to be heard by the Labour Court from suspended Gauteng Health HoD Lesiba Malotana to have his precautionary suspension lifted, reports TimesLIVE, saying it had caused him severe prejudice and reputational damage. Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi placed Malotana on suspension last month amid an investigation by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) into tender corruption within the department and poor performance, including underspending of R725m in the past financial year. Malotana has asked that suspension be declared unlawful, set aside and lifted, and that his electronic devices be returned and he be allowed to go back to work and resume...

Doctor defends social media posts after HPCSA fine

UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health, Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng, who was fined R10 000 by the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA), has maintained that her personal expressions, both online and offline, do not affect her professional integrity or responsibilities as a medical practitioner. The EFF, meanwhile, has also called the penalty “politically motivated”, reports the Cape Times. The fine was for “inappropriate language on social media” after a complaint by the South African Zionist Federation (SAZF) about Mofokeng’s posts on social media platform X, “vilifying Israel and Jewish supporters using racist, derogatory, and profane language”. “In January 2025,...

Eastern Cape hospital without water for three weeks

An Eastern Cape hospital has been without water for more than three weeks, forcing doctors and nurses, and even patients, to haul 20-litre buckets of water from tanks outside the building so that they can wash and flush toilets. The stench and unhygienic conditions at All Saints Hospital in Ngcobo have become unbearable, reports TimesLIVE, but one employee said despite the crisis, the facility has continued to admit patients. The appalling conditions are compromising both hygiene and patient safety, she added, and dirty linen was having to be transported to Mjanyana Hospital, about an hour away. One nurse said the situation has...

Tshwane alert after typhoid spike

Officials in the City of Tshwane say they have stepped up investigations into a rise in typhoid fever cases in Hammanskraal and Bronkhorstspruit amid growing public concern about water safety in the metro, reports TimesLIVE. “Preliminary results of drinking water samples tested have not determined an epidemiological link between cases, nor have they yet determined the source of the contamination,” said the city’s spokesperson, Lindela Mashigo. Typhoid is caused by the bacterium Salmonella Typhi, which spreads through contaminated food or water and thrives in poor sanitation conditions. Mashigo said the city was working closely with the Department of Health, Department of Water...

Aspen wins R500m payout in mRNA products dispute

South Africa’s biggest pharmaceutical manufacturer, Aspen, is expecting a R500m boost to its bank account within the next 30 days after its seven-month legal battle with an undisclosed contract manufacturing customer for mRNA products finally ends, reports Business Day. “Shareholders are advised that the dispute has been settled on the basis that the counterparty will pay Aspen an amount of €25m (R500m) before 1 December 2025, in full and final settlement,” it said on Friday. In April, the company had warned that it faced a “material contractual dispute” that might lead to core earnings falling as much as R2bn, while not...

Pig kidney removed from patient after record nine months

An American man who lived with a genetically modified pig kidney for a record 271 days has had the organ removed and will return to dialysis, reports CNN. Tim Andrews (67) of New Hampshire received the transplant in January, but surgeons at Mass General Brigham removed the organ last week because of a decline in kidney function. He was the fourth living patient in the US to get a kidney transplant from a pig that had been genetically modified to help prevent organ rejection and other complications. Andrews, who had had diabetes since the 1990s, learned about three years ago that he had end-stage kidney...

MEDICO-LEGAL

Cancer victim dies after alleged wrong diagnosis of TB

A 20-year-old woman from Bizana in the Eastern Cape who was apparently treated treated for tuberculosis (TB) for two years instead of cancer as a result of a misdiagnosis, has died. TimesLIVE reports that instead of getting better, Sinentlahla Shinga deteriorated, her body weakening, her skin changing colour, and eventually, becoming bedridden. Her family’s worst fears were confirmed, they said, when doctors at a Port Shepstone hospital told them Shinga had been misdiagnosed – that she didn’t have TB, she had lymphoma, and by then it had already spread throughout her body. Pinky Qushwana, a relative who took her in before she...

Eastern Cape Health to fork out R12m in negligence case

The Eastern Cape Department of Health has been ordered to pay more than R12m to the mother of a child with cerebral palsy that stemmed from a brain injury, despite efforts to wriggle out of the lump sum arrangement, reports Daily Dispatch. Issuing the order in the Eastern Cape High Court (Bhisho), Judge Belinda Hartle said she was satisfied the claimant had established her entitlement to all of the agreed and proven damages payable in a lump sum monetary award. Health MEC Ntandokazi Capa has until 10 November to pay more than R12.1m to the child for loss of earnings, accommodation,...

Disbarred medico-legal lawyer’s wife also struck off

The wife of disgraced medico-legal lawyer Zuko Nonxuba has, like her husband, also been struck from the roll of attorneys – partly stemming from the same allegations that led to her spouse’s disbarring. The Cape Times reports that Nonxuba was accused of stealing millions from disabled children, mostly in the Eastern Cape. His wife, Novelwano Nonxuba, worked at her husband’s firm at the time, later leaving to open her own practice. The Legal Practice Council (LPC) had also brought an application against her before the Gauteng High Court. Most of the cases where money vanished involved parents of children who were injured...

SOME RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS IN THE PAST WEEK

CARDIOVASCULAR

Acute viral infections increase risk of CVD

In the weeks after a bout of flu or Covid, the risk of heart attack or stroke may rise dramatically, and chronic infections such as HIV may increase the...

HEALTH & FITNESS

Women need less exercise than men for heart benefits – Chinese study

A recent study has suggested that women may have an edge over men when it comes to heart health and exercise, deriving more benefits from less physical activity than...

Swop short strolls for longer walks for heart benefits – Spanish-Sydney study

One longer walk a day is better for your heart than lots of short strolls, especially if you don’t exercise much, according to recent research, reports the BBC. The authors...

HIV RESEARCH

Poor sleep slashes years of life from HIV+ people – Wits study

Researchers say that bad sleep, frequently overlooked in routine HIV care, may well be the missing vital sign that determines how long and how well people with HIV will...

OBSTETRICS

Covid in pregnancy tied to increased autism risks – US analysis

American researchers have said that their recent study suggests children born to mothers infected with Covid-19 during pregnancy faced a higher risk of autism, along with other neurological differences...

RHEUMATOLOGY

New study says knee pain steroid shots have little impact

More than 200 patients with osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee got no more benefit from intra-articular corticosteroid injections than from lidocaine shots in a randomised cross-over trial, and neither...

SLEEP HEALTH

Sleeping pill may slow Alzheimer’s protein build-up – US study

There’s still so much we don’t know about Alzheimer’s disease, but the link between poor sleep and worsening disease is one being explored with gusto by researchers, reports Science Alert. A study...

Regular melatonin use could indicate heart issues – US study

Long-term use of the popular melatonin sleep aid could be a sign of higher risk of heart failure and early death in adults with insomnia. The study team said...

WOMEN’S HEALTH

Menopause brain changes may affect memory, mood – Puerto Rican study

A research team from Puerto Rico that carried out a literature review to compile findings on how menopause may reshape the brain identified consistent patterns that might help explain...

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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