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Crisp: Private sector is to blame for much of SA’s wasted healthcare spend
Much of the waste in SA’s healthcare expenditure is the fault of “unjustifiable private sector costs and gross public sector inefficiencies”, says Dr Nicholas...
SA Law Reform Commission outlines sweeping medical negligence changes
The Law Reform Commission (SALRC) has proposed sweeping legal changes to curb the soaring medical negligence claims against the State, writes MedicalBrief. A “uniquely...
Bariatric surgery in NAFLD and obesity slashes liver and cardiovascular risk
In non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and obesity, bariatric surgery cut by 90% the risk of advanced liver disease, liver cancer or related death,...
SA homicides 7x global average, with sharp force the major cause of death
The Medical Research Council’s 2nd Injury Mortality Survey found that homicide in South Africa was seven times higher than the global average, accounting for...
Mental stress-induced myocardial ischaemia significantly associated with CV death
Among patients with stable coronary heart disease, the presence of mental stress–induced ischaemia was significantly associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular death or...
Intravenous remdesivir reduced hospitalisation by 87% in high-risk COVID patients
A three-day course of intravenous remdesivir reduced the risk of hospitalisation by 87% versus placebo, in COVID-19 outpatients at high risk of progression to...
Tembisa 10: HPCSA to investigate ‘obs/gynae misrepresentation’ by GP
The Pretoria “obstetrician/gynaecologist” who claimed to have examined the mother of the yet-to-be-seen 'Tembisa 10' decuplets, Gosiame Sithole, is neither a gynaecologist nor an...
Vaccination 5x more effective against hospitalisation than prior COVID infection — CDC analysis
A nationwide analysis from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that mRNA COVID-19 vaccines are associated with significantly more immunity...
High Court rejects Zuma's claims on disclosure of medical information
Former president Jacob Zuma failed in the KZN High Court (Pietermaritzburg) in an application to remove the prosecutor leading the corruption case against him,...
Coffee consumption associated with lower liver stiffness — US national survey
Drinking more than three cups of caffeinated coffee a day is associated with lower liver stiffness — but not fatty liver — according to...
Neurological complications after first dose of Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines
Increased but low risk of Guillain–Barré syndrome and Bell’s palsy after first dose of the Oxford–AstraZeneca vaccine, as well as of haemorrhagic stroke after...
Groundbreaking UCT study upends theory on how TB is spread
Upending centuries of medical dogma, University of Cape Town researchers found that breathing may be a bigger contributor to the spread of tuberculosis than the...
Fierce debate over a new theory to tackle the global obesity pandemic
A bold challenge to the dominant theory explaining obesity has been launched by Harvard University Professor David S Ludwig and 16 fellow researchers from...
‘Mozart effect’ returns: New study identifies sonata as potential epilepsy therapy
Listening to Mozart’s Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major may be associated with less frequent spikes of electrical activity in the brains of...
Massive UK nursing shortage sucks in Kenyan, South African and Zimbabwean nurses
The Royal College of Nursing says NHS England will have to rely on international recruitment to fill 39,000 existing vacancies, writes MedicalBrief. As part...
Anti-vaccine chiropractors: A rising force of misinformation
An Associated Press investigation has found that in the United States, “a major purveyor” of anti-vaccine activism and misinformation is a small but vocal...
Landmark intervention may reduce autism diagnosis rates by two-thirds
A simple video intervention for parents of at-risk babies was able to reduce the number of children diagnosed with autism at the age of...
SCA rejects negligence appeal; recaps on approach to medical expert testimony
The Supreme Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by Gauteng Health against a High Court judgment that found that negligence by Kalafong Hospital...
Momentum Metropolitan Health positions itself for implementation of NHI
Momentum Metropolitan Health Group has entered an empowerment deal that gives 32% of the business labour unions and black medical professionals, a move speculated...
SIU report into Digital Vibes: More heads on the block
After a three month delay, President Cyril Ramaphosa has released the Special Investigating Unit report into the multimillion Digital Vibes tender fraud, reports MedicalBrief....
US regulator: Hard to balance benefits and harms of cigarette alternatives
Tobacco products needed to be regulated along a “continuum of risk”, the Global Tobacco and Nicotine Forum (GTNF) conference heard last week. But the...
ESMO 2021: Highly promising results against breast and ovarian cancer
AstraZeneca’s Enhertu demonstrated a 72% reduction in the risk of disease progression or death in HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer according to trial results presented...
Top specialists find Zuma fit for trial, fuelling scepticism over earlier medical parole
Three leading medical specialists have found former president Jacob Zuma fit for trial, writes MedicalBrief. Their finding will fuel the controversy around Zuma’s earlier...
Up to three cups of coffee daily linked to significant health benefits — UK Biobank analysis
Up to three cups of coffee per day is associated with a lower risk of stroke, fatal heart disease, and all-cause mortality, in a...
UK reports 30,000 “yellow card” menstrual-related vaccination occurrences
Medical professionals are increasingly being approached by women who have experienced changes to periods and unexpected vaginal bleeding after being vaccinated, writes Dr Victoria...
Doctors in new turf war with pharmacists over ‘unlawful and unfair’ competition
Proposed changes to the Pharmacy Guidelines are “unlawful, unfair and not in the patients’ best interests”, says the SA Medical Association , while the...
ADHD linked to increased dementia risk across family generations
There is an association between ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) and dementia in families and across generations, found a large Karolinska Institutet analysis, writes MedicalBrief. Parents...
Healthy boys at greater risk from vaccination than COVID itself — US analysis
Healthy boys may be more likely to be admitted to hospital with post-vaccination myocarditis, a rare side-effect of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID vaccine, than with...
Noakes: Iconic study hid findings, reached unjustifiable and possibly unethical conclusions
Emeritus Professor Tim Noakes, in a study published in the journal Open Heart, has criticised the authors of one of the most influential studies...
Zuma’s ‘ life-threatening emergency’ again spotlights the weaponising of medical testimony
Former president Jacob Zuma’s transfer from jail to hospital over an undisclosed “life-threatening emergency” that his lawyers say will also affect his ability to...
High Court expresses doubt that ‘nonchalant’ HPCSA is fit for purpose
The continued inability of the Health Professionals Council of SA (HPCSA) to timeously register foreign-qualified medical practitioners has led to another judicial tongue lashing,...
Vaccination prospects boosted by Sisonke results and reversal on Astra-Zeneca jab
South Africa’s slow vaccination programme should get a boost from the highly encouraging results of the Sisonke clinical trial of the single-dose Johnson &...
HPCSA again fails to comply with court order on foreign-qualified doctors
An urgent application by foreign-qualified doctors ordering the Health Professions Council of SA to allow them to sit their Board examinations, has been granted unopposed...
Another court ruling against HPCSA on foreign-qualified doctors
An urgent application by foreign-qualified doctors ordering the Health Professions Council of SA to allow them to sit their Board examinations, has been granted unopposed...
Acute COVID: 35% higher risk of substantial decline in kidney function
COVID-19 survivors exhibited substantially increased risk of adverse kidney outcomes in the post-acute phase, found an analysis of 1.7m US military veterans’ records, in...
Zuma and Military Health Service ‘very aggrieved’ over NPA-appointed examination
Former President Jacob Zuma is considering defying a KwaZulu-Natal High Court order that a National Prosecuting Authority-appointed doctor examine him to assess his ability...
Anti-tobacco group wants ‘balance’ in vaping policies and media coverage
“Considerable evidence” suggests that e-cigarettes are an effective smoking-cessation tool for adults, according to a paper in the American Journal of Public Health, by...
New COVID variant — More mutated, more transmissible, and all over SA
A coronavirus variant first detected in South Africa and since found in England, China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mauritius, New Zealand, Portugal and Switzerland, could be more infectious than other mutations and...
Governments’ quest for ‘zero COVID’ faces increasing public resistance
Following the arrival of the Delta variant, the quest for “zero COVID” by means of lockdown is faltering, with the medical evidence ambivalent and...
Assassination of whistleblowing Gauteng Health finance director
Babita Deokaran, the “exemplary” chief director of financial accounting at Gauteng Health and a witness in the Special Investigation Unit’s probe into R332m of...