News Update
WHO issues 2017 list of essential medicines
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has issued the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines for 2017, adding new treatments for HIV, hepatitis C virus (HCV), tuberculosis and leukemia. The list, which is comprised of medicine considered be most...King William's Town doctors being investigated for sick note fraud
Two King William’s Town doctors have been accused of selling backdated sick certificates to workers of a well-known textile factory so they could justify bunking work. According to a Daily Dispatch report, this is after Da Gama Textiles factory...SA lags on healthcare system efficiency – index
South Africa was ranked last among 19 nations in a global survey that measured healthcare system efficiency – the ability to deliver maximum results at the lowest possible cost. Fin24 reports that the Future Health Index, commissioned by Dutch...Investigations into EC health boss recruitment reveals massive fraud
A forensic investigation into how eight senior Eastern Cape Health Department officials were appointed has opened a can of worms of flouted recruitment processes. A Daily Dispatch report notes that the confidential report shows some health bosses at...Medical scheme placed under curatorship over governance failings
Community Medical Scheme has been placed under provisional curatorship by the High Court in Pretoria after the Council for Medical Schemes discovered alleged governance failings by its board, reports Business Day. The apparent failures in...Legalising marijuana will harm young people - CMAJ editorial
The Canadian government's Bill C-45 to legalise marijuana will jeopardise the health of young people and Parliament should vote against it, argues the interim editor-in-chief of CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) in an editorial. "Simply...Competition Commission’s health-market inquiry slated over fact-check fail
Independent economics consultancy Econex has criticised the Competition Commission’s health-market inquiry for sounding the alarm over the potentially anticompetitive effects of Remgro’s and Afrocentric’s interests before checking facts and...Cosatu and Motsoaledi on collision course over NHI
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi and his department are on a collision course with Cosatu over the National Health Insurance (NHI), ahead of the governing ANC’s critical national policy conference in July, reports Business Day. While the...Italy responds to measles' outbreaks with compulsory vaccination
The Italian has ruled that children must be vaccinated against 12 common illnesses before they can enroll for state-run schools, reports BBC News. Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni blamed a decrease in vaccinations in part on a "spread of...Gouging claims batter Aspen's reputation and share price
If not ruined entirely, multinational SA pharmaceutical giant Aspen has suffered untold repetitional damage, all of its own making, writes the Financial Mail. The report says it is hard to imagine how any headline could be more detrimental than...Major drug trial looks at statins to treat MS
Scientists are hopeful a major UK drug trial will establish that statins can be used to treat multiple sclerosis, reports The Guardian. The low-cost drugs are typically prescribed to help lower levels of “bad cholesterol” associated with raised...IPM starts three-month ring trial
The non-profit International Partnership for Microbicides (IPM) has announced the start of the first clinical trial of its three-month vaginal ring designed to prevent two of the greatest risks to women’s health: HIV, which disproportionately...Health Ombud's orders on psychiatric patients ignored
About 100 psychiatric patients are still trapped in hospices unequipped to care for mentally ill patients after the Gauteng Department of Health had failed to comply with health ombudsman Malegapuru Makgoba’s instructions following the deaths of...NHS doctor shortage puts young patients at risk
Specialist children's wards are being forced to shut in the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) hospitals due to a severe shortage of doctors, “jeopardising” the health of vulnerable young patients, according to the Royal College of Paediatrics...Noakes cleared of misconduct. Full HPCSA judgment
After a three-year, multi-million saga, Banting-diet advocate Professor Tim Noakes has been cleared by the Health Professions Council of SA of misconduct after he provided advice on Twitter about what breast-fed babies should be given when being...