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News Update
South African doctor leads pioneering US surgery on baby in utero
A pioneering procedure carried out by a South African doctor working in Texas could eventually be performed in South Africa, according to the surgeon...
Germany mulls reimbursing weight-loss drugs costs
In June, France became the first country in the European Union to start reimbursing the costs of weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy for...
Moderna flu jab cracks FDA nod after earlier dispute
Moderna may be publicly pivoting toward its cancer therapies, but it’s still notching up vaccine approvals, with the Food & Drug Administration last week...
Final UN pandemic declaration draft on the table
The final draft of the Political Declaration on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response (PPPR) was sent to United Nations members last week, but, writes...
Outrage as Trump administration demands hospitals share ER records
A tiny federal agency in the US, tasked with protecting the public from injuries caused by lawnmowers and items like household appliances, is demanding...
Paarl Hospital outpatients department reopens after fire restoration
After a speedy six-month – and R67m – restoration, Paarl Hospital’s Outpatient Department has officially reopened after a devastating fire had caused extensive damage to the...
Pensioners complain about long waits at False Bay Hospital
Elderly patients are having to wait in long queues and endure extended waiting times at False Bay Hospital’s outpatients department, with the local Pensioners...
Mystery death of Gauteng nursing student
Police are investigating the death of a 19-year-old first-year nursing student at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Nursing College in Soweto, whose body was found...
Aspen clinches deal to produce new once-a-month HIV tablet
In a huge step forward for Aids prevention in Africa, a licensing agreement was recently inked between Aspen Pharmacare and Merck subsidiary MSD, granting...
Crisp clarifies private hospitals registration confusion
Acting Health DG Nicholas Crisp has issued notification to provincial departments explaining that private hospitals can still be registered, clarifying their confusion about how...
Older HIV+ adults to overtake younger patients by 2040 – Lancet report
The number of people with HIV worldwide who are 50 or older is likely to almost double by 2040, skyrocketing from 11.5m to 20.2m,...
SIU to probe Gauteng Health circumcision tender
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has been authorised by President Cyril Ramaphosa to dig into a Gauteng Department of Health tender linked to the...
Illicit weight-loss drug market out of control in SA
The “deluge” of unregistered weight loss medication is spiralling, with compounding versions of the drug continuing to sell like hot cakes in gyms, beauty...
Charlotte Maxeke shortages put patients at risk, says insider
Patient care has been compromised recently at Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital, despite the reassurances and denials from Gauteng Health, according to an insider, who...
Preventable blindness still a major challenge in Africa, says specialist
One of Africa’s biggest eye health challenges is avoidable blindness, a leading eye specialist told TimesLIVE, warning that although South Africa is making progress...
Man dies of drug toxicity after quitting smoking
A British patient on anti-psychotic drugs died in October 2025 from fatal clozapine toxicity after he suddenly stopped smoking, reports the BBC, with concerns...
Explosive mpox outbreak batters Madagascar
More than 3 000 cases of mpox have been recorded in Madagascar after the virus spread from a single port city to some of...
Uganda declares its Ebola-free status, as Congo cases keep rising
Authorities in Uganda declared the country free of Ebola last week after the discharge of the country’s last patient in mid-June – as the virus continues...
Australian doctors threaten to strike
Public hospital doctors in the Australian state of Victoria voted to begin industrial action after the government failed to meet their demands on issues...
Migrants’ healthcare under the spotlight again as new hospital opens
The thorny question of who should pay for foreign nationals’ healthcare has been raised again, this time at the opening by President Cyril Ramaphosa...
Measles cases reach 35-year high in United States
America has already recorded 2 295 measles cases this year, a number not seen since 1991, according to new data published on the Johns...
Nigerian doctors flag dire shortage of medical schools
The Nigeria Medical Association has warned that the shortage of healthcare professionals and personnel is a crisis, urging the local government in the state...
HIV 2030 target unlikely, as funding crisis pummels global Aids response
The chances of the world ending Aids as a public health threat by 2030 are looking increasingly remote, according to concerned global health experts...
Discounted Ozempic copy unlikely to be covered by medical aids
Novo Nordisk has announced that it will be launching a cheaper, registered version of its diabetes treatment Ozempic in South Africa at a discount...
DignitySA buoyed by NDPP’s decision
DignitySA’s Constitutional Court challenge to decriminalise medically assisted dying will not be opposed by the National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP), it said in...
Murder charge for HIV+ man who deliberately infected girlfriend
A Boschkop man (47) has appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on an attempted murder charge after allegedly concealing his HIV status and intentionally...
DNA test ordered in IVF dispute between two couples
A KwaZulu-Natal High Court (Durban) High Court Judge has authorised a court order for a black Ballito couple to proceed with a DNA test...
Free State judge on fully paid sick leave for eight years
A Judicial Conduct Tribunal is considering whether a Free State Judge may remain on the Bench after a lengthy eight years of sick leave...
Gauteng Health and DA in spat over Tambo Hospital surgery delays
Gauteng Health has denied accusations that patients at Tambo Memorial Hospital have had their elective surgeries postponed until June 2027, amid claims by the...
Private Free State hospital helps reduce state surgery backlog
A private hospital in Bloemfontein has partnered with the Free State Department of Health to address the backlog of more than 4 000 cases,...
Pro-Gaza stance cost UCT R250m in donor funding
The University of Cape Town’s two pro-Gaza resolutions adopted in 2024 resulted in the loss of donor funding worth R250m, including R15m for student...
Rob Ferreira Hospital launches urgent repairs after HRC probe
A damning human rights probe exposing broken plumbing, chronic hot water shortages, and doorless toilets at an Mbombela hospital has prompted the Mpumalanga Department...
Stellenbosch project speeds up TB diagnosis with AI technology
In what is expected to be an important weapon in the fight against tuberculosis, Stellenbosch University is leading AddiCAD, a R46m international project to...
SA dumps 45 000 tonnes of medical waste annually
At least 45 000 tonnes of healthcare waste are produced annually in this country, much of it being disposable plastic products, and while a...
Hantavirus kills three people in Venezuela
Venezuela officials confirmed last week that three people had died of hantavirus infections, but stressed there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission in the South American...
Weight-loss big guns in legal battle over GLP-1 advertising
A lengthy legal tussle is expected after Novo Nordisk launched a lawsuit against Eli Lilly last week, alleging that its advertising campaigns for its obesity and...
Digital tools help Zimbabwe’s HIV migrants stay in care
As thousands of Zimbabweans return home from South Africa in a wave of deportations and anti-immigrant sentiment, health experts warn that disruptions to HIV...
Zimbabwean farmers feed ARVs to chickens to fatten them up
In efforts to maximise profits, Zimbabwean chicken farmers regularly buy antiretroviral drugs (ARVs), intended for HIV patients in the country – on the black...
Australian woman gives birth to rare identical quad girls
An Australian woman has given birth to identical quadruplet girls after a pregnancy doctors described as incredibly rare, reports The Associated Press.
Jenitar Sau Na’amoana...
Germany’s sick-note crackdown as ‘off’ days surge
Germany’s plans to tighten sick-note rules have been slammed by unions and doctors’ associations, which suggest that the rise in sick days, among the...