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News Update
Gauteng Health denies ‘bodies piling up’ at hospital morgue
There are no unclaimed bodies piling up at Helen Joseph Hospital, Gauteng Health has said after claims of multiple unclaimed bodies left in limbo...
Contaminated water detected in most SA school storage tanks
A national water testing campaign has found that most water storage tanks at South African schools are contaminated, and unfit for human consumption, while...
Fake Covid interview with Prof Karim slammed by Health Department
A video falsely portraying Professor Salim Abdool Karim criticising Covid-19 vaccines has been denounced as disinformation, according to the Centre for the Aids Programme...
New charges for Harvard scientist in frog embryo smuggling case
A Russian-born scientist from Harvard Medical School who was accused of smuggling frog embryos into the United States was indicted last Wednesday on additional...
Early cancer deaths cost British economy billions every year – UK study
Cancer Research UK (CRUK) reports that early deaths from cancer are pummelling the British economy to the tune of £10.3bn a year – lung...
Cancer ‘the new HIV in South Africa’
Cancer cases in South Africa are rising, with projections that numbers could reach 120 000 within the next five years – double what was...
HPCSA finds radiology firm guilty of unprofessional conduct
The Health Professions Council of SA (HPSCA) has found Netcare service provider Bergman Ross & Partners (BRP) guilty of unprofessional conduct.
BusinessLIVE reports that the...
Health experts urge government to prioritise antimicrobial resistance
An open letter from more than 70 infectious disease and public health experts is urging the Department of Health and Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi...
New posts for jobless doctors after protests
KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane announced yesterday that the department would be opening up 20 posts for unemployed doctors and advertising them within the...
No money for fire compliance at Charlotte Maxeke – Gauteng Health
Repairs to Charlotte Maxeke Hospital after the devastating fire in April 2021 are progressing well – albeit slowly – but the Gauteng Department of...
Gauteng Health on vaccine drive as measles spreads
Measles cases are escalating in Gauteng, with the Health Department now launching an aggressive vaccination campaign in schools and at taxi ranks, in efforts...
SA drags heels on vape regulations, warns WHO
South Africa is among the last 60 countries that have yet to ban or regulate e-cigarettes, and has been tardy in making tobacco products...
NICD urges heightened awareness of rabies
The latest Public Health Bulletin South Africa (PHBSA) surveillance report has called for heightened awareness of rabies, with the country still recording cases among...
Brain dead woman taken off life support after birth of baby
An American nurse who had been declared brain dead but had been kept alive since February because she was pregnant was taken off life...
New research unit at Steve Biko Hospital impresses President
The newly-established Nuclear Medicine Research Infrastructure (NuMeRI) facility at Steve Biko Hospital in Pretoria has impressed President Cyril Ramaphosa, who visited the facility this...
Regulator wrongly approved hundreds of nurses to work in UK
A damning report reveals that more than 350 fraudulent or under-qualified applications from centres in India, Nigeria and Pakistan were mistakenly approved by Britain’s...
Mother's anti-chemo stance blamed for British graduate's death
A Cambridge graduate’s brothers have claimed she died as a result of the anti-medicine conspiracy theories promoted by her mother, who was struck off...
UK MPs vote for assisted dying in England and Wales
Nearly seven months after it was first debated, the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill has now completed all of its steps in...
Mediclinic HR manager sacked for obsessive behaviour
A Johannesburg Labour Court judge has said that the CMMA erred in reinstating a hospital employee who was dismissed for pestering a colleague after...
Free State clinics shut down for safety reasons
Two clinics which closed down in the Free State in April were inspected by Health MEC Monyatso Mahlatsi this week where she assessed the...
Woman arrested after baby stolen from Gauteng clinic
A 21-year-old woman has been arrested in connection with the kidnapping of a three-day-old child from a health clinic in the eastern part of...
Companies raise R365 000 for cystic fibrosis awareness
In a remarkable effort of community collaboration and corporate responsibility, Pachas Restaurant and TRX Electronics, both in Pretoria, joined forces to raise R365 000...
New Zealand approves ‘shrooms’ for medicinal use
Last week New Zealand became the latest country to approve the use of psilocybin – the notorious hallucinogen found in “magic mushrooms” – for...
Cancer costs thwart treatment for SA patents
An Eastern Cape man with a rare cancer who was due to have his last immunotherapy session this week – after an expensive battle...
Frustrated doctors slam union for lack of action
A collective of 126 frontline South African doctors – from more than 40 public and private healthcare institutions countrywide – has lambasted the SA...
Costly ‘sick leave’ endemic among government staff
Sick leave costs in the public service skyrocketed between 2020 and 2023 – from R8bn in 2020 to R11.5bn in 2022 before dipping slightly...
Six Gauteng hospitals failed in pandemic response, PP finds
The Public Protector (PP) has found that "administrative deficiencies" led to some of Gauteng's public hospitals failure to respond effectively to the Covid-19 pandemic,...
Second death linked to muscular dystrophy gene therapy
Biotech drugmaker Sarepta Therapeutics has reported a second death in connection with its gene therapy for muscular dystrophy, and paused shipments of the therapy, Elevidys, for...
KZN patient registration system struggles to get going
Implementation of the Health Patient Registration System (HPRS) in KwaZulu-Natal is being hamstrung by a budget shortfall and issues relating to internet connectivity, according...
Fake SAHPRA cannabis licence warning
The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) has issued a warning about service providers using falsified licences to gain public trust and conduct...
Gauteng hospital patients without hot water
Patients at nine hospitals in Gauteng have been without hot water for six weeks, thanks to leaking and broken boilers, compressors and tanks, according...
Thousands of Gauteng patients wait for MRI scans
A backlog of 3 563 patients awaiting MRI scans at Gauteng Hospitals is cause for concern, says the DA, with shadow health Minister Jack...
Government applauded for HIV combat efforts amid US cuts
South Africa’s efforts to maintain its fight against HIV-Aids, despite the massive funding cuts from the United States, have been acknowledged by United Nations...
WHO extends mpox emergency after African surge
After a World Health Organisation (WHO) emergency committee meeting last week on the mpox upsurge in Africa, the group’s director-general has accepted the recommendation...
Australia lifts ban on gay, bisexual blood donors
Australia has scrapped its rules banning sexually active gay and bisexual men from donating blood and plasma – from 14 July this year –...
New Covid-19 variant not detected in SA
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) had said there was “no need to panic” about the new Covid-19 variant known as Nimbus or...
SA's expired cancer strategy still to be replaced
With the incidence of cancers in South Africa predicted to almost double by 2030, government's strategy to combat cancer has not been updated for...
Upgraded technology for Gauteng hospitals to reduce backlogs
New MRI machines have been installed at Steve Biko Academic Hospital and Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital by the Gauteng Department of Health (GDoH),...
Cape Town sees rise in foodborne illnesses
An escalation in foodborne illnesses – since July 2022 – has seen Cape Town’s microbiological lab testing nearly 5 000 food samples, just over...
Maties students launch SA’s first transplant support unit
A dedicated specialised support unit for organ donors, dubbed the “Life Pod”, was launched at Tygerberg Hospital last week, the first-of-its-kind facility in Africa.
The...