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Health governance
New Gauteng system tackles waiting lists, surgical access
For decades, surgical waiting lists in South Africa have largely been invisible outside individual hospitals. Patients waited, clinicians improvised and health system leaders often...
South African healthcare sector being bled dry by thieves and cheats
Crooked doctors, exorbitant overcharging, and procurement irregularities are pushing health costs sky-high, reports TimesLIVE, with as much as 15% of all healthcare claims being...
Children wait nearly three years for surgery at Charlotte Maxeke
Gauteng Health MEC Faith Mazibuko has called for a dedicated emergency paediatric theatre with dedicated anaesthetic and nursing support at Charlotte Maxeke Hospital. This...
More arrests likely in Medicare24 tender corruption case
None of the people already linked to the R288m SAPS Medicare24 tender corruption case has approached the state to negotiate a plea deal yet,...
More than 50 hospitals still headed by acting CEOs
The absence of permanent CEOs at state hospitals across South Africa is alarming, with Gauteng alone having 13 out of 37 facilities headed by...
NHS maternity care failures led to deaths, harm to hundreds of mothers and babies
An inquiry into NHS England’s biggest ever maternity scandal has revealed that more than 500 mothers and babies came to harm or died because...
Madlanga Inquiry evidence implicates Medicare24 boss in drug deals
WhatsApp chats, voice notes and video clips presented before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry on Monday revealed what appeared to be drug dealing between...
Tembisa officials helped kingpin score R25m in two hours
Alleged Tembisa Hospital corruption kingpin Stefan Govindraju scooped a R25m payday in two and a half hours using a bunch of shell companies –...
Cyber hackers target South Africa’s healthcare system
Experts have called for stronger cyber-security measures to be implemented countrywide, warning that South Africa is the most targeted country in Africa by these...
Health Department staff probed over R800m oxygen tender
Three Health Department officials are being investigated in connection with the awarding of the R800m Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) Oxygen Plant tender from the...
Tougher action needed for NHSL debt
The astronomical debts owed by provinces to the National Health Service Laboratory Service are endangering patients and threatening the very existence of the NHSL,...
More Tembisa fraud revelations likely after audit records enforcement
In a move that has put the Department of Health in a corner, and which could potentially lead to more damning revelations relating to...
High risk baby’s access to clinic allegedly blocked by vigilantes
The March and March vigilante group has denied any knowledge of a mother and her critically ill four-month-old baby being barred by its members...
Fraud triggers medicine shortage crisis in Namibia
A critical shortage of medicines is pulverising Namibia’s public health sector – the first time this has happened in the country’s 36 years of...
SIU net closes in on ‘Syndicate X’ in Tembisa Hospital probe
The Tembisa Hospital probe has netted more fish, with the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) obtaining a preservation order and an interim interdict against a...
Gauteng Health ‘fails to honour Deokaran’, claims DA
The DA in Gauteng has called the province’s Health Department disrespectful after it ignored a legislature motion requiring it to report within six months...
MEC cracks the whip as suppliers vent frustration over long delayed payments
Health officials and healthcare workers came in for sharp rebuke this week for shoddy work; in Gauteng officials were threatened with dismissal if they...
Gauteng Health labelled a 'mafia' after hospital repair scandal exposed
In response to scathing findings by the Public Protector, a committee has been established that will ensure long-delayed repairs at the fire-damaged Charlotte Maxeke...
SIU on a mission to recoup millions from illegal ambulance contracts
The Special Investigating Unit’s quest to claw back millions from controversial businessman Thapelo Buthelezi, who has frequently made headlines since 2018 and who was...
Gauteng Health fails to vet thousands of childcare staff
The Gauteng Department of Health has not vetted nearly 40 000 staff who work with children, raising serious concerns about child safety and patient...
NHLS flounders as Health Departments owe R11bn
The total collapse of the National Health Laboratory Service appears imminent if provincial Health Departments owing it nearly R11bn don’t pay their high outstanding...
KZN Health to investigate Pietermaritzburg hospital allegations
A complaint lodged with the South African Human Rights Commission has prompted action from the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health, which has now launched an...
Call for justice after forced sterilisations
Government has been slammed for its prevarication and failure to assist the HIV-positive victims of forced and coerced sterilisation, reports The Citizen.
Local NGO Her...
More than 200 KZN ambulances in the sick bay
Nearly half of the entire fleet of KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health ambulances is sitting in workshops awaiting repairs, with diagnostic delays, inflated parts replacement costs...
Lack of equipment at Tembisa risks lives – DA
A shortage of vital equipment like ventilators and basic examination lights is jeopardising the lives of patients at Tembisa Hospital, according to the DA,...
Ongoing battle against unregulated medicine
From unregulated weight loss injections to unsafe pain tablets, substandard and falsified medical products pose a massive health threat. For Spotlight, Elna Schütz reports...
Municipality unable to account for millions paid by hospital
Questions have been raised and a forensic probe launched after more than R17m, apparently paid by Pietermaritzburg’s Northdale Hospital to the Msunduzi municipality for...
Africa CDC launches group to guide genomics governance, innovation
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), recently launched the African Strategic Advisory Group on Genomics (ASAG), which aims to independent...
Diabetes could drain $5trn from world economy – Chinese study
New modelling shows that apart from the obvious health threat, diabetes is also a major long-term economic threat, with disability, treatment costs and lost...
Ex-Health MEC in court on fraud, corruption charges
Former KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Peggy Nkonyeni (64) appeared in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court (Pietermaritzburg) last week facing fraud and corruption charges linked to hospital...
MEC orders turnaround plan after Wentworth Hospital visit
While an unannounced late night visit to Durban’s Wentworth Hospital by KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane was welcomed by the nursing union, it was...
Global Fund to cut SA’s grant by 25% in two years – in eight years it will be gone
South Africa has less than eight years before one of the most important sources of funding for its HIV and TB programmes falls away,...
Police boss suspended over controversial health tender
South African police chief General Fannie Masemola, who has denied any role in the controversial R360m health tender awarded to Vusi “Cat” Matlala’s company...
Stalled Grey’s Hospital repairs project moves up ‘priority list’
There’s hope yet for ailing Grey’s Hospital in Pietermaritzburg, with its non-existent aircon and inhumane operating theatre conditions, amid various delays and drawn out...
Western Cape Health to ramp up its workforce with 800 new frontline posts
Western Cape Health is ramping up its workforce with 800 new frontline posts, but after years of austerity and with long lists of vacancies,...
Supplier still selling expired medicines to Malawi state facilities
Despite a recommendation to revoke its licence, one of Malawi’s largest pharmaceutical suppliers that was shut down for supplying state hospitals with faulty antibiotics...
Tembisa Hospital kingpin loses more supercars
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU ) has swooped on 11 luxury vehicles, including limited-edition supercars, belonging to alleged Tembisa Hospital looting kingpin Hangwani Maumela...
Justice for Life Esidimeni victims as state moves on prosecutions
After years of investigation, and a decade of excruciating delays, buck-passing, heel-dragging and institutional resistance, senior health officials implicated in the deaths of at least...
Choice of new Health boss will test Ramaphosa’s commitment
When push comes to shove, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s talk of building a more capable state hasn’t always been backed up by the appointment of...
ANC bigwig’s daughter to repay millions in PPE contract scandal
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has welcomed the two judgments handed down by the Special Tribunal last week, which reviewed and set aside unlawful...