Weekly Roundup
PSC report on KZN Health warns on staff attitudes
Staff attitudes at KwaZulu-Natal Health facilities and inadequate care of patients including failure to guarantee confidentiality, especially to HIV positive patients may lead to many defaulting on their medication amid fear of stigma, the Public...Nehawu mobilising over Limpopo's failure to pay bonuses
The National Education Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) says it is mobilising for mass action in Limpopo because the provincial Health Department has yet to pay staff their performance bonuses for the 2016-17 fiscal year. Business Day...Esidimeni claimants receiving their money
Section27 says not all the claimants of the Life Esidimeni arbitration have received their money, but it has no reason to be apprehensive that the Gauteng government has not made the payments. "I believe that the Gauteng (Health) Department has made...SA’s first healthcare-focused property company launched
Growthpoint Properties has launched the country’s first healthcare-focused property company as it looks to expand into a specialised real estate sector that offers significant security to landlords. Business Day reports that the real estate...HPV vaccine programme in UK significantly reduces infection risk
A new study in the UK has shown the success of the Human Papilloma Virus(HPV) vaccine programme in significantly reducing the number of young women carrying potentially life-threatening infections. The majority of cervical cancer cases are caused by...WHO cautious about declaring victory in DRC Ebola epidemic
The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has cautioned against declaring victory too early in Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ebola epidemic, despite encouraging signs that it may be brought under control. “The outbreak is stabilising, but...Ramaphosa urged to attend UN meeting on TB
Civil society groups are calling on President Cyril Ramaphosa to attend a historic global tuberculosis (TB) meeting in September, as a show of political will in ending South Africa’s top killer. Health-e News reports that the UN General Assembly,...Motsoaledi and Dhlomo tour new KZN condom factory
Health minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi and KZN Health MEC Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo have expressed their satisfaction with operations at a condom factory situated at Dube TradePort, near the King Shaka International Airport. News24 reports that this was...Forum to tackle fraud and corruption in SA healthcare
Fraud‚ waste and abuse were just three types of corruption that occurred in the public and private healthcare sectors – and fraud in the private healthcare sector alone was estimated at R22bn each year. The Times reports that this is according...UK authorities deny chemotherapy to asylum seeker
A 38-year-old woman with advanced breast cancer was denied potentially life-saving chemotherapy for nearly six weeks after the UK’s Home Office deemed her ineligible. The Guardian reports that Kelemua Mulat, who has metastatic breast cancer in her...Africa CDC reports on response to DRC's Ebola epidemic
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) deployed epidemiologists, laboratorians and various other health experts to support the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) efforts to control the recent Ebola...WHO report on NCDs fails to recommend sugar tax
The World Health Organisation (WHO) Independent High-Level Commission on NCDs’ report, Time to Deliver, called for urgent action against chronic diseases and mental disorders, the globe’s leading cause of death and ill-health, but failed to...Community medics attacked in Cape Town
Two Community Medics crews were attacked and robbed at gun and knife point in the early hours of Saturday while treating patients in Du Noon‚ Cape Town, reports The Times. Community Medics spokesperson Kim Jurgens said the medics’ personal...New leadership at Generics and Biosimilar Medicines Association
Generic and Biosimilar Medicines of Southern Africa (GBMSA), formerly known as the National Association of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers (NAPM), has appointed Erik Roos, CEO of Pharma Dynamics as vice chair to support the existing chair, Lorraine...Dietitians' role in the prevention of disease
Across the world, health and social care services are under stress; and in South Africa, the inaccessibility of quality health care for many people remains one of the country’s intractable problems. These pressures have intensified the focus on...