Training
SA med students failing to recognise childhood cancer's early warning signs
July 12th, 2017 Final-year SA medical students remember only six of at least 20 early warning signs of childhood cancer, found a University of the Witwatersrand study. Medical schools needed to reassess their methods of training, said Dr Jennifer Ann Geel, who led...Unemployed SA medical interns look to the UN and WHO for relief
Unemployed SA intern doctors, who have been left in limbo for six months, have taken their concerns to the UN and the World Health Organisation. A Sunday Tribune reports that one of the doctors has addressed a letter to the secretary-general of...UKZN accused of hiding information in med school places-for-sale scandal
Students have accused University of KwaZulu-Natal of keeping its own council and the Hawks investigators in the dark, regarding a KPMG report into the sale of places at its medical school. The Sunday Tribune reports that the university’s...New training hospital planned but med school quotas stay - Motsoaledi
Plans are under way to build a new 'world-class' training hospital in Durban, said SA Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, while also rebuking critics of the race quota system for medical school admission. According to a Sunday Tribune report,...Govt mulls more SA medical schools, including private institutions
The establishment of three new medical schools, including a private one, is under consideration, said Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande, but the final decision lay with the Health department. Nzimande broke his silence over over...Collapsing KZN Health may lose specialist training accreditation - HPCSA
A failing KwaZulu-Natal health system has deteriorated to the point where the Health Professions Council of SA has warned several departments they will lose their accreditation to train specialists, reports Business Day. The KZN health...UKZN 'concern' over effect of scandal on med school's reputation
The University of KwaZulu-Natal has been working with the Hawks to identify students who had bought their way into its medical school. The Times reports that this comes after the recent arrests of three people who headed a syndicate selling...
Serious lack of info on the impacts of Cuba-trained doctors
March 29th, 2017 Reports of misbehaviour by South Africans studying medicine in Cuba have focused attention on the programme to alleviate rural doctor shortages. Chris Barron of The Sunday Times spoke to a founding member of the Rural Doctors Association, the...US doctors-in-training to go back to longer hours
The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education has rolled back controversial rules limiting the number of hours US first-year residents may work. Reuters Health reports that the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education...Secret KPMG report finds irregularities at UKZN med school
The University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine failed to implement its quota policy, blocking deserving youngsters from becoming doctors, found a KPMG report that has been kept secret by the university. Also, says a...
Slightly better US mortality outcomes for foreign-trained doctors
February 8th, 2017 US patients may have lower mortality rates if their doctors were trained at foreign medical schools rather than at US universities, a Harvard study suggests. Researchers examined data for more than 1.2m hospitalisations handled by general...SA medical students look to China
About 100 South Africans have applied to study medicine at Chinese universities through Student Alliance, an organisation started by SA doctors who qualified in China and are now helping others with overseas studies, reports the Sunday...Community service for new pharmacists should be dropped - PSSA
There is a lack of state posts for pharmacists to complete their year of community service‚ forcing them into unemployment, says the Pharmaceutical Society of South Africa. The Times reports that the PSSA as saying that if the government...
Regulator warns over sleep-deprived junior doctors
December 7th, 2016 In a move that will resonate with SA junior doctors, the UK's General Medical Council has warned that trainee doctors in the that country's National Health Service are often so sleep-deprived that they are in danger of harming patients. SA junior...UKZN med students revolt against rural internships
Medical students in the province have openly revolted against a new programme aimed at placing them in KwaZulu-Natal’s rural areas for internships. According to a report in The Mercury, the students told KZN Health MEC Sibongiseni Dhlomo that they...