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News Update
Cipla joins legal challenge as Aids drug tender row escalates
The Department of Health’s controversial Aids drug tender is under fresh attack, after Cipla filed an application in the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) last...
Previously-red-flagged firms score new oxygen tender contracts
The Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA) appears to have awarded a new R379m contract for hospital PSA oxygen plants countrywide to companies previously...
SA sanitary pad suppliers probed after study finds harmful chemicals
The National Consumer Commission (NCC) has opened an investigation into nine sanitary pad and panty liner suppliers, after a University of the Free State...
Pharmacist gets 10 years or R500 000 fine for GEMS fraud
A judge has given a pharmacy owner in Malamulele, Limpopo, a 10-year term behind bars or the option to pay a R500 000 fine,...
MEC and paramedics clash looms in defamation case
A legal showdown between KwaZulu-Natal Transport and Human Settlements MEC Siboniso Duma and ALS Paramedics is expected to take place in the KZN High...
Lifestyles fuel rising hypertension among Gauteng young adults
Gauteng Health has warned of a rise in high blood pressure diagnoses among the province’s young adults, amid deteriorating lifestyle habits, reports The Citizen.
Rising...
Zimbabwe rejects $350m US health deal
A proposed $350m health funding agreement with the United States has been rejected by Zimbabwe after President Emmerson Mnangagwa described the deal as compromising...
US proposes expensive alternative to WHO
America’s Health & Human Services department has proposed spending $2bn a year to re-create systems the country previously accessed through the WHO at a...
Polio resurgence fears but US healthcare ill-prepared
With a leading United States vaccines adviser saying all vaccine recommendations may be reconsidered – despite a surge in infectious diseases – experts are...
GEMS given seven days to respond to union demands on steep hikes
The Government Employees Medical Scheme (GEMS) has seven days to respond to the Public Servants Association’s demands to withdraw the 9.8% contribution hike for...
High Court date set for Kimberley Mental Hospital fraud case
Ten people – including a former Northern Cape MEC – will appear before the Northern Cape High Court in April on fraud and corruption...
FDA probes salmonella outbreak linked to moringa
US health officials are investigating a salmonella outbreak linked to an easily available brand of moringa powder – from the tree of the same...
Eastern Cape doctor on bail after rape allegations
A doctor from the Eastern Cape was released on R5 000 bail last week after appearing in the Komani Magistrate’s Court on a charge...
Applications for MPS Foundation’s 2026 grant programme open
South Africa healthcare healthcare practitioners, providers and researchers are being invited to apply for funding through the MPS Foundation’s 2026 grant programme.
Launched in 2022...
Chinese MRI machines for Gauteng slammed by doctors
Doctors at Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital in Johannesburg have questioned a Gauteng Health Department decision to override their choice of MRI scanners and opting...
CMS wins bid to replace Sizwe Hosmed curator
The curator of the flailing Sizwe Hosmed medical scheme will be replaced, and it will remain fully functional, according to the Council for Medical...
Western Cape won’t hire CHWs on a permanent basis
The Western Cape Department of Health & Wellness has no plans to comply with a 2025 Labour Court ruling that community health workers (CHWs)...
AfriForum serves summons over NHI
Civil society organisation AfriForum served a summons on government yesterday in a bid to have the National Health Insurance (NHI) Act declared unconstitutional, reports Polity.
The respondents...
Health Minister grilled over ARV tenders
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said he would welcome Special Investigating Unit (SIU) probe into the ARV tender if the Health Portfolio Committee chose to...
Nelson Mandela Bay doctor accused of teen rape released on bail
A state-employed Nelson Mandela Bay doctor (56) charged with the rape of a teenager was granted bail of R5 000 on Friday in the...
Surgeries cancelled as Grey’s Hospital struggles without air-conditioning
The recent heatwave has exacerbated an ongoing crisis at Grey’s Hospital in Pietermaritzburg, where the central air-conditioning system remained non-functional, leaving operating theatres and...
Stellenbosch scientist leads global fight against AMR
A Stellenbosch biochemist has been selected to lead one of only two African teams in a $60m global consortium aimed at transforming antibiotic discovery...
Planned protests after trade unions reject GEMS hikes
The proposed hefty contribution increase announced by the Government Employees Medical Scheme (GEMS) has been roundly rejected by unions in the Public Service Co-ordinating...
Four surgeries for Gauteng boy who swallowed magnetic balls
A nine-year-old boy from Germiston is finally out of the woods after his fourth surgery since accidentally swallowing three sensory magnetic balls last May,...
US health bosses zoom in on processed food safety
The US Food and Drug Administration will consider a petition to revoke the safety status of dozens of processed refined carbohydrates unless food companies...
WHO slams US-funded baby vaccine trial in Guinea-Bissau
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has condemned the proposed and now-suspended randomised controlled trial planning to withhold the hepatitis B birth dose vaccine from...
Expert UKZN alumni flags sleep apnoea cardiovascular risk
The University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) recently welcomed back one of its distinguished alumni, internationally acclaimed Professor Virend Somers, who delivered a lecture on: Sleep...
Australian honour for Durban-born neurosurgeon
Former Durbanite Dr Ron Jithoo has been recognised with one of Australia's highest civilian honours, reports The Witness.
Jithoo was recently awarded the Medal of...
SAHPRA gives Section 21 approval for FMD jab
The SA Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) last week gave emergency authorisation for the importation of the Dollvet FMD vaccine, bringing some relief for...
Paediatric illness outbreak in Eastern Cape
A cluster of paediatric illness cases in Aberdeen, in the Sarah Baartman District of the Eastern Cape, has prompted a warning from the provincial...
ConCourt shifts focus in NHI assent challenge
Organisations questioning President Cyril Ramaphosa’s assent to the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill heard this week that the Constitutional Court first wants to hear from...
Pharmacy firms face Competition Commission probe
The Competition Commission is investigating several pharmaceutical manufacturers after a complaint from the Health Department.
Business Day reports that the companies include Ascendis, Pharma Q...
Sizwe Hosmed now under fire from CMS
Troubled Sizwe Hosmed medical scheme, already floundering under curatorship, is now under fire from the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS), which has accused it...
Livingstone Hospital evicts 50 nurses
More than 50 nurses have been evicted from what was meant to be temporary accommodation at Livingstone Hospital, forcing many to scramble for places...
Nelson Mandela Bay doctor accused of raping teen
A doctor in Nelson Mandela Bay, who is employed in a government hospital, appeared in the Kariega Magistrate’s Court on Monday accused of luring...
Cape doctor wins half a million in Labour Court battle
The Cape Town Labour Court has dismissed an application by the provincial Department of Health to appeal a ruling finding the precautionary suspension of...
First Eastern Cape public IVF clinic opens
Eastern Cape Health has just launched the province’s first public in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) clinic, which opened at Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital in Mthatha last...
KZN MEC stands by claims about private paramedics
KwaZulu-Natal Transport & Human Settlements MEC Siboniso Duma has said he will not retract his remarks or apologise for insulting private paramedics, reports News24.
Duma's...
USAID dismantling could mean 9.4m deaths by 2030 – Lancet study
It’s been one year since the Trump administration dismantled the US Agency for International Development (USAID), with aid cuts leading to the closure of...
WHO flags data risks with rapid escalation of AI in healthcare
A WHO report on a five-year digital transformation strategy framework was the focus of a debate last week over who owns the data in...