South Africa
Gore: NHI won't shift Discovery's focus overseas
Discovery has managed to build itself into a global health care giant, making it less reliant on its South African business. But CEO Adrian Gore has dismissed the idea it could shift focus from its local health business as plans to implement...SA Medical Association urges private hospitals to improve security
The South African Medical Association (SAMA) has urged private hospitals to pay to improve safety measures to protect the lives of patients and staff following security breaches at private hospitals in Durban over the past two months, reports The...Assisted death must be decriminalised – SA mental health practitioners
A group of South African mental health practitioners and psychologists from the Cape have called on government to decriminalise medically-approved assisted death. It is an “urgent priority” for policies, legislation and professional codes to be...In camera hearings granted at CMS inquiry into racial profiling
Health professionals fearing intimidation by some medical aid schemes have been granted permission to give evidence in camera at the inquiry set up to investigate the racial profiling of black doctors by the schemes. According to an IoL report, an...Gauteng wants national government to finance 4 central hospitals
Gauteng premier David Makhura is lobbying the national Health Department to take over the financing of the province’s four central hospitals, arguing that they are chronically underfunded for their role. Business Live reports that Gauteng is...Claim that Polmed lost R11.2m in 'illegal building deal'
The projected R11.2m in losses from the SA Police Service’s medical scheme Polmed’s “illegal” acquisition of its building have highlighted assertions made that the fund is being mismanaged. The Star says it has seen minutes from an April...Medical schemes' anti-fraud tactics queried at CMS inquiry
Medical scheme administrators are overstepping the mark in their fraud investigations into healthcare professionals, straying into the terrain of regulatory authorities and claiming back money they have not proved they are entitled to, according to...SAPPF: Evidence of 'harassment' of doctors but not racial profiling
The SA Private Practitioners Forum says it has no evidence medical schemes are using racial profiling to determine which of its members to investigate for fraud but the medical scheme coding system was at the centre of what appeared to be harassment...Discovery 'warning signs' send investors 'skittering'
Of all of the listed companies likely to be impacted by the arrival of National Health Insurance (NHI), medical scheme administrator Discovery appears to have been hit the hardest, says a Daily Maverick report. It says while much about the recently...Red Cross Hospital makes history with first-in-Africa procedure
In a first for the African continent and only the third time ever, Eyewitness News reports that a 6-year-old patient from George was the recipient of a cutting-edge non-surgical cardiac procedure at the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s...Mediclinic to challenge competition tribunal finding
Private hospital group Mediclinic is poised to challenge the Competition Tribunal’s prohibition of its proposed acquisition of Matlosana Medical Health Services (MMHS) at the Competition Appeal Court, as it fights to expand its footprint in the...Paid sick-leave is putting pressure on government's purse
In the past financial year, government departments paid out more than R310m in salaries to staff on sick leave or suspended, reports the Sunday Times. Sonia Lupondwana has been paid just over R1m in the past 17 months - without lifting a finger....Unhappy shareholders vote against Mediclinic executive pay report
Almost 60% of the minority shareholders in Mediclinic, South Africa’s biggest private hospital group, have voted against its latest executive pay report, signalling mounting unhappiness among institutional investors about its remuneration policy,...Discovery Health releases Best Hospitals in SA list
Now in its fifth year of reporting, Discovery Health has released its annual list of 20 leading South African hospitals as rated by patients through the Patient Survey Score (PaSS). The Top 20 list is based on aggregated surveys completed by members...Dire conditions in some hospitals but MECs claim improvements
It takes seven hours to register for medicines in Gauteng and up to six days to be admitted to an orthopaedic ward in the Eastern Cape, but an "activist government" is delivering improved services in Gauteng and North West, the politicians...