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News Update
Hospital CEOs in hot water over Israeli delegation visit
Eastern Cape Health MEC Ntandokazi Capa has launched an investigation into two hospital CEOs who allowed an Israeli diplomatic delegation to tour their facilities...
Eastern Cape patients risk lives in local clinics, report finds
Political parties have slammed the findings of an oversight report exposing appalling conditions at health facilities in the Eastern Cape’s Buffalo City Metro and...
Aids drug supply resumes as Barrs exits business rescue
Barrs Pharmaceuticals, which was unable to supply its share of the government’s Aids drug tender, has exited business rescue and sold a controlling stake...
Deputy President’s son’s link to IDT oxygen plants controversy
Investigations into the now controversial R836m PSA oxygen plants tender have revealed that Thabiso Mashatile, son of Deputy President Paul Mashatile, had personally signed...
Patient's 10-hour wait highlights Rahima Moosa staff crisis
A Johannesburg hospital has apologised to a couple who endured a frustrating 10-hour wait for attention last week, despite their pleas for help and...
Western Cape diphtheria cases on the rise
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) has warned that cases of toxigenic respiratory diphtheria are increasing, particularly in the Western Cape, where booster...
Patient forced to travel 350km to treat broken finger
A broken finger that should have been easily treated turned into a major drama for an Eastern Cape patient, who was forced to travel...
Nipah virus cases in India trigger Asian airport screenings
After the recording of two confirmed cases of the Nipah virus in West Bengal, India, authorities in parts of Asia – Singapore, Thailand and...
FDA halts two gene therapy trials after child develops brain tumour
Two investigational gene therapies for rare paediatric diseases have been put on hold by the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) after a child...
US doctor charged in battered baby case
A doctor has been released on $250 000 bail after his arrest in a child endangerment case in Ohio in which an infant was...
Africa CDC and Global Fund establish central data repository
A Central Data Repository (CDR) launched by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) aims to strengthen how public health data...
Paarl Hospital arson-accused was a psychiatric patient at facility
A 35-year-old man who appeared in court last Thursday accused of starting a fire at Paarl Provincial Hospital was a psychiatric patient at the...
‘Hypnotic’ UK doctor cleared of sexual misconduct
A British medical tribunal has, for the second time, cleared a doctor of sexual misconduct after he was accused of talking to female patients...
Kenya’s NHI loses billions to fraud
Kenya’s Health Cabinet has revealed that the government lost Sh11bn through fraudulent and irregular medical claims under the new Social Health Authority (SHA) system,...
Data from US study on children misused for ‘race science’
Rogue researchers managed to access genetic data from 20 000 American children, which they used to do bogus “race science” research, fuelling concerns that...
Leave NHI challenges to the court and lawmakers, state says
The Department of Health has dug in its heels and told critics that, like it or not, the NHI Act is law, and there’s...
Thousands of KZN community health workers finally employed full-time
KwaZulu-Natal Health has permanently employed more than 5 000 community health workers (CHW), marking a triumph for the National Education Health and Allied Workers’...
CMS rules on healthcare products branding in Dis-Chem dispute
Dis-Chem has defended its health insurance partnership with Centriq and Kaelo insurance products, saying a recent regulatory ruling should be seen as a clarification...
SA experts call for warning labels on common, carcinogenic food products
Popular fast and processed foods consumed daily by South Africans are taking their toll on public health, with regulars like bacon, hot dogs and...
Health Department under barrage over jobless doctors
The Department of Health has come under fire from the Junior Doctors Committee of the South African Medical Association Trade Union (Samatu), which has...
Mpondoland hospital patients battle for healthcare since 2025 floods
A year after floods devastated the already dilapidated Greenville Hospital in eastern Mpondoland, frustrated patients say infrastructure problems continue to restrict services after parts...
Killer terbufos pesticide still being sold by vendors
Despite a ban on illegal sales, the highly toxic pesticide terbufos – commonly known as “halephirimi” (“the sun won’t set”), which has been linked...
Western Cape health system buckles under violent trauma cases
Gang violence-related injuries are crippling Western Cape emergency centres and trauma units, with nearly 27 000 patients being treated at public hospitals in just...
US leaves WHO, leaving massive funding gap
The US has officially withdrawn from the World Health Organisation (WHO) – leaving the UN agency without one of its biggest donors, and without...
Six countries lose WHO measles-free status
A rise in measles deaths – and a decline in the number of children having the MMR jab – has resulted in Britain, with...
Theranos founder Holmes asks Trump for early release
Elizabeth Holmes, the former Theranos founder who still has nearly six years left of her 11-year prison sentence, has asked US President Donald Trump...
Smuggled birth control pills from Zimbabwe sold in SA
Cross-border trade in illicit medication is thriving, with consignments of Zimbabwean contraceptive pills regularly entering South Africa and being snapped up, not just by...
Suspected arsonist arrested after Paarl Hospital fire
A man has been arrested and will appear in court today in connection with a suspected arson attack that forced the full evacuation of...
Suppliers’ business rescue threatens critical medicines supply
The supply of critical medicines, including the three-in-one anti-Aids drug taken by most HIV patients, and morphine, is under threat after suppliers were placed...
Medical scheme boss accuses CMS of ‘sabotage’ and racial bias
Medical scheme administrator 3Sixty GSG has alleged that regulators and industry insiders deliberately sabotaged the Sizwe Hosmed medical scheme, which was one of the...
GEMS subsidy hike postponed to next month
The planned medical subsidy increase for government employees has been postponed to next month and comes as the Health Minister has promised to intervene...
Aspen sets its sights on Canada for generic weight-loss jabs
Aspen Pharmacare is gearing up to launch one of the world’s first generic versions of Novo Nordisk’s semaglutide in Canada, where the GLP-1 weight-loss...
Upgraded Free State clinic still short-staffed
Two months after being opened with much fanfare by the Free State Premier, the Borwa Clinic in Tweespruit has yet to hire additional staff, with the...
SA scientist develops tool for fast screening of TB, cancer and Covid
A Cape Town scientist is working on developing a rapid, low-cost portable screening test that could transform the early detection of TB, cancer and...
WHO calls for higher taxes on sugary drinks and alcohol
Low taxes, which are not in line with inflation, are ineffective in reducing alcohol or sugary drink consumption, the World Health Organisation has warned, urging...
World short of one million midwives, warns global report
Africa has only 40% of the midwives it needs, while globally, there’s a massive shortage of nearly 1m midwives, leaving pregnant women without the...
NHS under fire for guidance over benefits of marrying first cousins
The NHS has withdrawn earlier official training material given to British midwives that suggested there could be “potential benefits” to marriage between first cousins...
US to probe health links from cellphone radiation
A study on cellphone radiation will be undertaken by the US Department of Health and Human Services, building on Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr’s...
Pig kidney kept door open for human organ
One of the first recipients in the world of a genetically modified pig kidney has become the first in that small group of pioneers...
SAHPRA alert on paediatric supplements
The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) has issued a health warning to parents about children’s supplements containing zinc picolinate and seleniumn –...