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New CEO promises to turn notorious Mamelodi Hospital into '5-star' institution
March 25th, 2020 Dr Naing Soe, the new CEO of Pretoria's notorious Mamelodi Hospital, promises to turn the premises into “a five-star” establishment. Mamelodi Hospital in Pretoria made headlines in May 2019 when 76-year-old Martha Marais was found...
Australian doctors want ministerial apology for 'shaming' GP with COVID-19
March 11th, 2020 Doctors in Australia have demanded an apology from a state health minister who sharply criticised a GP for working while unaware he had coronavirus. BBC News reports that Dr Chris Higgins treated about 70 patients in Melbourne while sick with what...
'London Patient' steps out of the shadows
March 11th, 2020 A year after the “London Patient” was introduced to the world as only the second person to be cured of HIV, The New York Times reports that he is stepping out of the shadows to reveal his identity: He is Adam Castillejo. Six feet tall and...
Young SA doctor remains in China to help fight COVID-19
February 19th, 2020 For SA doctor Brett Lyndall Singh the bond developed with China will not allow him to pack his bags at a time when it faces the coronavirus, which has so far killed close to 2,000 people. According to an IoL report, Singh said his conscience, and...
Surgeon whistleblower of SARS pandemic under house arrest
February 12th, 2020 The Chinese military surgeon who exposed the government’s 2003 cover-up of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic has been under de facto house arrest since last year, according to his friends and family. The Guardian reports that...
CTN doctor's 'moral burnout' leads to free cancer surgery
February 5th, 2020 Faced with “moral burnout”, Dr Liana Roodt founded Project Flamingo in 2010 to help provide cancer surgery to those who cannot afford it, but urgently need it. The Times reports that operating at Tygerberg and Groote Schuur hospitals in Cape...
Moeti reappointed head of WHO's Africa region
February 5th, 2020 TThe World Health Organisation executive board has formally appointed Dr Matshidiso Moeti — Botswana national but South African-born — for a second, five-year term at the helm of the organisation’s Africa region. Moeti pledged to work on...
New WC Health head takes a different tack from DA provincial govt on NHI Bill
January 29th, 2020 The new head of Western Cape Health appears to hold a different view on the NHI Bill than that of his political masters in the Democratic Alliance provincial government, writes MedicalBrief. In the week that Western Cape Health MEC Nomafrench...
UCT gets a new Health Sciences dean
January 22nd, 2020 Associate Professor Lionel Green-Thompson has been appointed as the new dean of the faculty of health sciences at the University of Cape Town. Green-Thompson joins from the Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University in Gauteng, where he is...
A one-sentence TV appearance routed the anti-vaxxers
January 15th, 2020 A single sentence during a TV talk show catapulted Italian virologist Roberto Burioni to instant media celebrity status and made him the scourge of anti-vaxxers and other pseudoscience. In May 2016, Roberto Burioni, a virologist at Vita-Salute...
TB research professor awarded Oppenheimer Fellowship
January 15th, 2020 Africa’s premier research fellowship has been awarded to Professor Val Mizrahi, director of the Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine at the University of Cape Town (UCT). The award recognises Mizrahi as a pre-eminent scholar who...
Astronaut's blood clot is treated during NASA mission
January 8th, 2020 When for the first time an astronaut in space had a deep vein thrombosis (DVT), the US space agency called in an outside specialist to establish a method of treatment for DVT in zero gravity. Blood clot expert Dr Stephan Moll, professor of...
Medical student receives coveted Stellenbosch honour
December 11th, 2019 A medical student who achieved distinctions in every theory exam over six years was awarded Stellenbosch University’s top student honour. Jennifer Kate van Heerden, the recipient of this year's coveted Chancellor's Medal, passed every...
New chief for SA's Military Health Service
November 27th, 2019 Lieutenant-General Zola Dabula has been appointed as the new surgeon-general of the SA Military Health Service, reports eNCA. Dabula has three decades of experience in military health and served as a physician to former president Nelson...
98-year-old French doctor still practising and rues Dr Google
November 27th, 2019 When French doctor Christian Chenay saw his first patients in 1951, penicillin was state of the art. Reuters Health reports that now 98 years old, he is still working and opens his surgery in the Paris suburbs two mornings a week for patients,...