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Colonoscopy may not be gold standard of colon cancer screening – large randomised trial
Results from a clinical trial in Norway have cast doubts on the commonly held belief that if everyone would get a colonoscopy screening just...
KZN surgeon’s murder charge triggers new alarm among doctors
As predicted by medical and legal experts, South African prosecutors appear to be increasingly inclined to bring murder charges against doctors whose patients die...
DoH is stuck with high hopes and scores of millions of COVID-19 doses
Despite its COVID-19 vaccination stalled and barely half of South Africans having received at least one shot, the Department of Health won’t budge on...
Alzheimer’s drug slows cognitive decline in trial – breakthrough or another false dawn?
The announcement that lecanemab, a drug candidate for Alzheimer’s disease slowed the rate of cognitive decline by 27% in a large, late-stage clinical trial,...
Clarion call for hospital load shedding exemption
There has been a growing, increasingly angry call for an end to load shedding for South African medical institutions, with healthcare providers and professional...
Worldwide type 1 diabetes cases expected to double by 2040 – Australian study
The number of people living with type 1 diabetes worldwide is expected to double by 2040, with most new cases among adults living in...
Paediatric antibiotics linked to autism, asthma and others – Swiss meta-analysis
Antibiotics, the most commonly used drugs in children, can lead to a host of adverse outcomes, including autism spectrum disorders and asthma, according to...
SA to expedite TB diagnosis/treatment as cases continue to soar
Over the next five years, the national Department of Health plans to initiate a system that supports potential tuberculosis patients from the moment they...
Wiese rescues SA's anxious high-risk doctors after insurance dilemma
Consumer retail billionaire Christo Wiese has stepped in to rescue EthiQal, a popular local medical indemnity provider, after its parent company, Constantia Insurance, was...
Scientists discover how air pollution triggers cells into cancerous states
In what has been described as a "wake-up call" about the damaging impact of pollution on human health, scientists have uncovered how fine particulates...
Big Tobacco link sees high-profile delegates pull out of SA TB conference
The withdrawal from this week’s South African Tuberculosis Conference in Durban by high profile delegates, including the World Health Organisation and the Bill &...
SA nursing under threat as UK, Canada lure staff to address crippling shortages
The global crisis of medical staff shortages – particularly nurses – is worsening, with South Africa by no means the only country critically affected....
Stents ineffective for heart failure patients – landmark seven-year UK trial
Every year, 60 000 people in the UK are diagnosed with heart failure, and many are treated with stents. In a large new study...
Why people in ‘Blue Zones’ live longer
In certain part of the world, there are areas called “Blue Zones”, where people have low rates of disease and live longer than anywhere...
UPDATED: Doctors' anxiety as curator issues cut-off order to indemnifier
Anxious doctors insured with Ethiqal, the medical indemnity arm of Constantia Insurance, are in a quandary after a provisional curator on Monday instructed the...
Foreign patients: a burden on the system, or scapegoats for poor management?
Limpopo Health MEC Phophi Ramathuba's verbal assault on a Zimbabwean patient at Bela-Bela Hospital, has again thrust forward the contentious issue of foreigners' access...
Doctors urge crisis management as Eastern Cape Hospitals collapse
Doctors at the three hospitals comprising Gqeberha’s Livingstone Tertiary Hospital have called on the Eastern Cape Department of Health to move to “crisis management”...
Smoking the leading cause of cancer deaths globally, largest study confirms
Smoking, drinking, being overweight and other risk factors are to blame for almost half of all cancer deaths worldwide, according to the largest study...
CMS faces legal action over low-cost option delays
The Board of Healthcare Funders (BHF) has launched a legal attack on the medical scheme industry regulator over its tardiness in implementing cheap, pared-down...
Zoonotic diseases: Sindbis, Langya and monkeypox outbreaks keep scientists on alert
Since COVID-19 reared its head and exploded around the globe, several previously fairly dormant diseases and viruses have also emerged, creating increasing awareness of...
A ‘Crisp’ rendition of SA’s NHI
South Africa’s two-and-a-half year COVID ordeal exposed both the ugly underbelly of the country's grossly unequal healthcare system – and the dire need for...
One in every eight adults likely infected with long COVID, large study finds
Long COVID is far more widespread than thought, a recent study shows, while another has found that a common symptom of the condition is...
Scientists discover 'breakthrough' technique to revive organs after death – Yale study
With the potential to transform transplant medicine, and buy doctors more time to save a life if applied to people, pig organs have been...
Medical posts added to revised Critical Skills List – finally
In a major concession by government to the growing medical staff crisis, the revised Critical Skills List – gazetted on 2 August – includes...
Critical need for national strategy to address chronic surgical backlog
National Department of Health statistics reveal that more than 107,000 non-emergency or elective surgeries were put on the back burner during the COVID-19 pandemic....
How therapeutic fashion trumps medical evidence
Profit motives and fear of missing out or going against the trend, has led to health professionals following therapeutic fashions instead of questioning accepted...
Beginning of the end for SAMA as Western Cape branch suspended?
The South African Medical Association (SAMA) board has suspended its Western Cape branch amid charges and counter charges of suspicious and irregular conduct, with...
The high price medical whistle-blowers have to pay
Medical whistle-blowers face victimisation, intimidation and assassination, writes MedicalBrief. New information indicates that chief accountant Babita Deokaran flagged potentially fraudulent Tembisa Hospital contracts worth...
Major study casts doubt over serotonin link to depression
Experts have cast doubt on widespread antidepressant use after a major “eye-opening” review found “no evidence” of a link between serotonin and its relationship...
SA companies, institutions, do U-turn on COVID and vaccine mandates
An increasing number of South African companies and institutions are relaxing or dropping their COVID-19 restrictions, with Standard Bank and Old Mutual being among...
Scientists warn of more zoonotic diseases as third SA monkeypox case confirmed
South Africa recorded its third case of monkeypox on Monday. The Limpopo Health Department said in a statement that the National Institute for Communicable...
Scientists a step closer to building artificial heart for human transplantation
Heart disease is deadly, in part because the heart, unlike other organs, cannot repair itself after injury. That is why tissue engineering, ultimately including the...
Moonlighting drains specialist care at state hospitals
At least a quarter of senior government doctors and specialists are abusing a dual-practice system allowed by the state by working both jobs at...
UK punts e-cigs in ambitious smoke-free plan, but US more cautious
As the UK prepares for a Smoke-free 2030 goal, the use of vaping as a means of doing so has again created divisions, with...
Scathing ruling against state's bid to control where doctors work
The Department of Health’s plans to control where doctors work have been dealt a blow by the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) which has declared...
Lessons from the pandemic: vaccines prevent deaths, and ‘listen to scientists’
As South Africa last week joined the ranks of a growing number of countries which have dropped all COVID-19 restrictions, bringing to an end...
Health professionals unite in "I Am" movement against state victimisation
A 130-strong group of senior, highly-regarded health professionals have come together to publicly highlight the deteriorating conditions at state health institutions and stand united...
Scarce training opportunities a major hurdle in addressing doctor shortage
The critical factor limiting local doctor supply and exacerbating the already severe shortage of doctors in SA is the constraint on the number of...
One in six people dying prematurely from air pollution
Pollution worldwide is increasing, and along with that, causing more health issues for populations around the globe. Side-effects of exposure are many, varied and...
HRC to monitor Rahima Moosa, calls for reclassification of hospital
As the Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital turned its focus on whistle-blower doctor Tim de Maayer this week – instead of addressing the...