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News Update
Concern that White Paper could block migrants from healthcare
South Africa’s revised Immigration White Paper could make it even harder for undocumented migrants to access healthcare and other basic services in this country,...
Responders struggle to contain Ebola as outbreak surges
The military governor of the Democratic Republic of Congo's Ituri province, the epicentre of the Ebola outbreak, has likened the struggle to contain the...
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...
NICD finds two polio virus strains in Cape wastewater
The Department of Health has said there is no need to panic after the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) detected two polio virus...
Netcare picks up pace on AI implementation
Netcare is sprinting ahead with digitisation and AI, with CEO Richard Friedland saying the financial benefits of spending on these are already overtaking the...
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...
Dis-Chem drawn into SAHRC probe of racist post
Dis-Chem has become embroiled in a reputational furore after the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) launched a formal investigation into social media posts reportedly made by...
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...
South Africa forges ahead with tech-driven strategy to fight diseases
A new era of artificial intelligence (AI) and other technological and breakthrough innovations will help the country fight HIV, TB and cervical cancer, said...
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,...
SA’s Ebola risk ‘low’ as rare virus strain rips through Congo
As the number of Ebola deaths rises to more than 130 in the Eastern Congo, and despite the WHO having declared a global emergency...
Discovery Life’s defence fails in cancer claim dispute
A cancer patient has triumphed in a dispute against Discovery Life, when the National Financial Ombud Scheme (NFO) ruled that when it comes to...
Bail for Durban doctor charged with wife assault
Durban doctor and bodybuilder Aadil Khan has successfully appealed his bail refusal in an assault case – despite already serving a correctional supervision sentence...
Medical school bottleneck pushes students overseas
The competition to gain medical school acceptance in South Africa is so fierce that even top-performing matriculants won’t necessarily get in and are being...
Health Minister withdraws ‘offensive statement’
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has backtracked and “withdrawn statements that may have been offensive” after appearing to cast aspersions on the partiality of the...
LEN jab launch date announced
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has said that the breakthrough long-acting HIV prevention injection Lenacapavir will be available at selected health facilities from 5 June,...
Injection of R65bn for Budget will boost SA’s healthcare
The national Department of Health will revitalise and expand its priorities after being allocated R64.8bn for the 2026/27 financial year, said Health Minister Aaron...
Life insurance cover good news for HIV+ employees
Momentum has announced it will now extend life insurance coverage to HIV-positive employees, the updated risk management framework enabling healthy HIV-positive individuals to now...
Illegal medicine sales rife amid drug abuse in Eastern Cape
Concern is growing over the cheap and easily available schedule 2 products at many outlets, including spaza shops, in the Eastern Cape – with...
More delays with Grey’s Hospital HVAC repairs
Despite operating theatres at Pietermaritzburg’s Grey’s Hospital having battled with malfunctioning air-conditioners for years, the KZN Department of Health has never declared the repair...
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...
Illegal sexual enhancement jabs flagged after organ failure
An alert has been issued by Gauteng Health about the increasing use of unregulated injectable substances marketed for body enhancement and sexual performance, after...
US state sues AI firm over chatbot posing as doctors
The American state of Pennsylvania has sued the artificial intelligence company behind Character.AI to stop its chatbot from posing as doctors, reports Reuters.
Governor Josh...
Eminent professors awarded prestigious National Orders
South African Professors Salim Abdool Karim, Tulio de Oliveira and Keertan Dheda were among a select group of individuals to be awarded National Orders,...
Biovac clinches R5.3bn state vaccine contract
The Biovac Institute has retained a critical three-year contract to supply South Africa with Hexaxim, the six-in-one shot provided to babies and toddlers in...
Netcare names its next CEO
Netcare has announced Melanie da Costa as its new CEO to replace incumbent Dr Richard Friedland, who retires at the end of the year...
Water crisis overwhelms Kalafong Hospital
Five days of no water supply at an Atteridgeville hospital took their toll on patients, staff and visitors last week, where not just the...
Zambia wants US health deal uncoupled from minerals access
The proposed critical minerals agreement contained in the Washington health deal with Zambia has been rejected by the African county, with its government clarifying...
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...
Hackers target private Durban hospital
A private hospital in Durban reacted swiftly to a ransomware breach last month after hackers gained access to its computer systems and locked part...
Health data warning for SA employers
South African employers have been warned to tighten up their management of staff health and medical records, in the light of new Protection of...
Minister questions judges’ potential bias in NHI case
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi is concerned that the judges’ stance in the NHI case might be influenced by them being “beneficiaries” of the same...
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...
Judge sets aside tender for untested circumcision device
The award of a tender for an unproven circumcision device used in 40 provincial health districts and the military has been deemed unlawful by...
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...
Call for action over high suicide rate among SA men
In South Africa, men comprise almost 80% of all recorded suicides in the country – the second leading cause of death for people between...
Unique Cape Town centre focuses on youngsters with kidney disease
Young people with kidney disease in South Africa often fall into the gap between the paediatric and adult healthcare systems, but an innovative clinic...
Three dozen senior doctors declare Trump mentally unfit to serve
More than 30 American psychiatrists and other doctors specialising in mental health have signed a statement declaring President Donald Trump mentally unfit to serve,...