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News Update
Trump officially backs Wuhan lab leak theory
The Trump administration has replaced the government’s main portal for information about Covid with a new website arguing that the coronavirus leaked from a...
Patient charged for assaulting nurse
A Limpopo patient has been arrested and charged with assaulting a nurse at Malamulele Hospital after admission, while a second man goes on trial...
Moderna gets $176m to develop pandemic flu jab
The US has announced it will pay Moderna $176m to accelerate development of a pandemic influenza vaccine that could treat bird flu in people,...
NHS approves robotic surgery for England
State-of-the-art robotic systems approved for use on the NHS could transform treatment for thousands of people across England, say health authorities, after the technology was...
FDA approves trial of pig livers for dialysis-like treatment for liver failure
Researchers will soon test whether livers from a gene-edited pig could treat liver failure patients – by temporarily filtering their blood so their own...
Trump’s aspirin usage queried by experts
The issue of aspirin for people who have never had a heart attack has been highlighted again after findings from President Donald Trump’s annual...
US NIH to probe cause of autism
US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr says environmental factors are contributing to autism’s rising prevalence, and that in assessing potential causes of the...
Indian firm recalls two dozen medications sold to US patients
FDA inspectors found serious problems at a Glenmark Pharmaceuticals factory in India that manufactured two dozen recalled drugs, while another medication made there has...
Be pro-active as cyber thugs target global healthcare sector
At one time, cyber criminals held off from attacking the world’s healthcare institutions for reasons of ethics, but no longer, says Shayimamba Conco, Cyber...
Another 150 000 HIV infections possible by 2028 from aid cuts
A modelling study commissioned by the National Department of Health into the impact of the Pepfar funding cuts has revealed that this could result...
Health Department plans six new academic hospitals for SA
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi says the public health sector will be boosted, in anticipation of the NHI roll-out, with new clinics and half a...
Minister scathing of African leaders seeking treatment abroad
Not for the first time, Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has blasted heads of state who fly to other countries when they need medical...
Gauteng Health buckles under migrant patient overload
Migrant care is exerting huge pressure on the Gauteng Department of Health and the system is completely overwhelmed, Ministers have admitted, yet public hospitals...
WHO members agree on 'historic' pandemic pact
Members of the World Health Organisation reached a landmark agreement yesterday on how to learn from Covid-19, which killed millions of people in 2020-22,...
Global kidneys-for-cash trafficking network exposed
Desperation is driving illicit deals and trades involving cash for kidneys, with global syndicates stretching from Kenya to Germany and involving billions of dollars,...
Drug-resistant infections killed 3m children worldwide
A landmark study presented this week at the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) in Vienna has revealed that more than...
Groote Schuur emergency trauma project kicks off for Easter weekend
The Groote Schuur Hospital Emergency Funds for Emergency Surgeries project – which has raised more than half a million rands, and which was launched...
Exorbitant security costs for Gauteng Health flagged
The DA in Gauteng has called for a review of ballooning hospital security costs, with MPL Jack Bloom saying the exorbitant amounts could rather...
French hospital staff, relatives sue over work-related suicides
French healthcare workers and families of colleagues who killed themselves have filed a legal complaint against two government Ministers over “deadly working conditions” in...
Trump launches probe into medicines tariffs
The Trump administration’s latest step towards imposing tariffs on imported medicines means Americans could face higher prices and more shortages of critical drugs, warn...
Transplant doctors remove pig kidney from patient after four months
An Alabama woman who lived with a pig kidney for a record 130 days had the organ removed after her body began rejecting it,...
Nurse injects stranger with paralysing drug – for no reason
A British nurse injected a complete stranger with a deadly muscle-relaxing anaesthetic for no reason other than “seeking to play God”, a court has...
UK’s first baby born to woman with transplanted womb
A “miracle” baby girl has become the first child in the UK to be born to a mother using a donated womb – from...
Part of teen’s skull stored in her stomach after rare brain bleed
A teenager from England has relearned how to walk, talk and swallow again after undergoing an operation last year that is rarely carried out...
Police nab man posing as Eastern Cape hospital doctor
A man posing as a medical doctor was arrested at Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital in Mthatha last week, after a nurse, who spotted the...
Woman blocks hospital entrance with bus over department’s non-payment
A fed-up Pietermaritzburg woman, owed millions by the provincial Department of Health, used a bus to block the entrance to Townhill Hospital on Monday,...
Death toll rises in Nigeria meningitis outbreak
Nigeria is struggling with a rapidly spreading meningitis outbreak that has so far killed 151 people – children affected the most – with efforts...
Five US nurses on same hospital floor all have brain tumours
A US nursing union is calling for further investigation after an internal probe found no environmental risks within a Boston hospital where five nurses,...
Trump now turns to pharmaceuticals in tariffs war
The pharmaceutical sector appears to be next in Donald Trump's firing line, with the US President this week hinting at further carnage following his...
Gauteng Health appeals 'cancer backlog' court order
The Gauteng Department of Health has applied for leave to appeal an order – issued by the Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) recently – compelling it...
Discovery allowed to appeal RAF medical claims ruling
Discovery Health has been granted leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in its long-standing dispute with the Road Accident Fund...
Warning as new mpox variant spreads
Local infectious disease experts have warned people to be more vigilant regarding the new highly infectious mpox variant, Clade 1b, which has been reported...
USAID cuts force HIV/TB services into business rescue
A USAID-funded non-profit organisation that provided community HIV and TB services to thousands of people around South Africa has voluntarily placed itself in business...
Oxygen plant tender probe delayed
Public Works & Infrastructure Minister Dean Macpherson has called for the Independent Development Trust’s new board to order lifestyle audits into its senior management,...
Health Department staffer in dual job as councillor must pay back the money
An ANC ward councillor in Limpopo’s Elias Motsoaledi Local Municipality has been lambasted by the Public Protector for drawing salaries from both the council...
Kennedy enrages supporters by now endorsing MMR vaccine
An endorsement of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination by US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr this past weekend...
Regulations address sick notes issued by traditional healers
Legal experts have pointed out that under proposed regulations, published for public comment last year, only registered traditional healers will be able to issue...
Palestinian medics killed, buried in mass grave, UN says
Palestinians held funerals last week for 15 medics and emergency responders killed by Israeli troops in southern Gaza, after their bodies and ambulances were...
Supreme Court rules for FDA in flavoured vapes dispute
The US Supreme Court has unanimously overturned a lower court ruling and found the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) acted lawfully when it blocked...
Progress in reducing child deaths under threat, UN warns
Recent funding cuts have put decades of progress in child survival at risk, say global experts, calling for increased investments, service integration, and innovations...