Public Health
Not true that large chunks of healthcare spending go to futile end-of-life care
July 11th, 2018 Around 25% of Medicare spending in the US occurs in the last year of people's lives. This is sometimes discussed as a questionable use of resources but a Harvard/Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) study found that very little of this...
NHI Bill 'won't be a silver bullet' in saving public healthcare in SA
July 4th, 2018 There can be no dispute that SA’s health care system needs major reforms, writes Professor Laetitia Rispel of the University of the Witwatersrand in The Conversation. But the proposed legislation will be 'no silver bullet'. South Africa’s...Older cannabis users reporting more health concerns
Researchers at the University of York have shown that there has been a 118% rise in those aged over 40 presenting to specialist drug treatment services citing cannabis as their primary health concern. Cannabis continues to be the most popular...
Brickbats and bouquets for NHI and Medical Schemes Bills
June 27th, 2018 A medical brain drain could be a consequence of the Medical Schemes Amendment Bill and the National Health Insurance Bill gazetted last week, says a Sunday Times report. Experts believe many doctors would reject the planned charging cap and some...
Motsoaledi says resignation calls are 'orchestrated' by medical schemes
June 20th, 2018 A group of 99 doctors and academics has sharply criticised public health management and 'unresearched' plans for the introduction of National Health Insurance,reports The Star. Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has hit back, saying the...
Admitting SA's health crisis the first step to fixing it
June 13th, 2018 A Business Day editorial says that Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi's selective use of statistics is a classic case of a politician under fire trying to present the glass as half full. The public health system has been racked by one scandal...
SA healthcare: It's not collapsed, merely distressed — Motsoaledi
June 6th, 2018 While Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi this week claimed that government health services were just 'distressed', a Office of Health Standards Compliance (OHSC) report listing shocking failings has been tabled in Parliament, with Health Ombudsman...E-cigarettes pose a danger to the health of children — FIRS
The Forum of International Respiratory Societies, a coalition of respiratory doctors and scientists, warns that there is mounting evidence to justify calling for a ban on flavourings and on marketing e-cigarettes as lower risk alternatives to...
Motsoaledi slams 'murderers' but Nehawu is defiant
June 6th, 2018 The National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union’s (Nehawu’s) is under fire over last week's violent protests in Gauteng hospitals, with Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi speaking of 'murderers' and an activist NGO distancing itself...
Cancer services take strain as radiation oncologists leave SA state sector
May 23rd, 2018 SA has just 38 state-employed radiation oncologists, of which 16 are in the Western Cape, according to the annual survey conducted by the SA Society of Clinical and Radiation Oncology. Bhekisisa reports that cancer services are buckling...
Funding 'still the biggest stumbling block' to NHI
May 23rd, 2018 The successful implementation of South Africa's National Health Insurance (NHI) programme hinges on its funding model, according to a legal expert. Partner at law firm Hogan Lovells Ian Jacobsberg said in a Fin24 report that the objectives of the...
Lancet Commission: Access to legal abortions still a problem in SA
May 16th, 2018 Despite SA’s liberal abortion laws, the government has failed to turn policy into a reality, with only 270 of 8,000 health facilities offering termination, said Justice Edwin Cameron at the launch of a Lancet Commission report on sexual and...
Violent hospital blockades continue despite Parliament's 'concern'
May 16th, 2018 While a parliamentary committee has decried the blockading of hospitals by strikers, demands by North West doctors that the SA Department of Health guarantee both patients’ and health care workers’ safety, still remain unmet, reports the Rural...
Five healthy habits may increase life expectancy by at least 12 years
May 9th, 2018 Maintaining five healthy habits – eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, keeping a healthy body weight, not drinking too much alcohol, and not smoking – during adulthood may add more than a decade to life expectancy, according to a study...Most restaurant owners support SA's new stricter anti-smoking measures
South Africa's Cabinet has approved the Control of Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Bill, which provides for a ban on smoking at outdoor public places. Business Day reports that the aim of the legislation is to cut demand by...