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News Update
US physicians want investigation after Kennedy fires CDC vaccine panel
Outraged American physicians have called on HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to immediately reverse his decision to fire all 17 sitting members of...
Peanut butter firm to cough up R500 000 for dodgy products
A Cape Town supplier – House of Natural Butters (trading as Eden All Butters) – has been slapped with a hefty R500 000 fine...
Gates pledges his fortune to African health, education
Bill Gates will spend most of his wealth on improving health and education services in Africa over the next 20 years, the billionaire Microsoft co-founder...
Chinese hospitals to offer epidurals to boost childbirth rates
China has said that by the end of 2025, all tertiary level hospitals – those with more than 500 beds – must offer epidural...
Ramaphosa granted ConCourt hearing for NHI appeal
The Constitutional Court has granted President Cyril Ramaphosa direct leave to appeal the High Court judgment – in May – regarding his decision to...
Judge rejects bid to have hospital tender fraud case ‘struck off’
South Africa’s most expensive, multibillion-rand mental hospital was central to a Kimberley Magistrate Court case this week in which former Northern Cape MEC John Block and...
Millions outstanding to medical device firms from state departments
The government has been sharply rebuked yet again for its tardiness in paying outstanding bills to small suppliers, with the SA Medical Device Industry...
Hackers target Mediclinic staff data
Mediclinic says employment-related data was affected in a cyber-security breach affecting a third-party IT service provider.
MyBroadband reported that cyber-extortion gang Everest Group had claimed...
Public Protector lays bare structural problems at Eastern Cape Health
The Eastern Cape Department of Health has been slammed by the Public Protector in a damning report for failing to provide adequate equipment and...
Family in battle with medical scheme to cover rare cancer drug
The family of an Eastern Cape man is squaring up to take on the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS), after an unsuccessful struggle to have...
Staff shortages leave North West hospital ‘broken’
Patients are being left untreated for weeks and surgeries postponed amid a ballooning crisis at Bophelong Provincial Hospital in the North West, where severe...
TikTok doctor wants R2m payout for ‘unlawful arrest’
A letter apparently sent to the SAPS demanding R2m in compensation for the “unlawful arrest” of TikTok doctor Matthew Lani in 2023 has not...
New antibiotic heads for final phase testing
The first new antibiotic in 50 years to tackle a common superbug is expected to be tested on patients soon, Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche...
RFK Jr threatens to ban scientists from publishing in top journals
US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr has threatened to stop government scientists from publishing their work in major medical journals as part of...
Ethiopia reports first mpox cases
Mpox is continuing to spread across the continent, with the first three cases being reported in Ethiopia last week and the Africa Centres for...
Tobacco industry deliberately targets teens, says Phaala
Vapes have come under renewed criticism from pubic health advocates, with Deputy Health Minister Joe Phaahla accusing the tobacco industry of deliberately targeting non-smokers...
Probe rules out link between hospital and staff’s brain tumours
Massachusetts health officials have completed an inspection of Newton-Wellesley Hospital after six current and former nurses on the fifth-floor maternity unit reported having brain tumours.
A nursing...
Moderna reels as US cancels $700m for bird flu jab
In a decision which has been slammed by scientists, the Trump administration has cancelled a contract awarded to Moderna for the late-stage development of...
UK’s disposable vape ban ‘unlikely’ to have much impact
A British campaign group has warned that the country’s ban on single-use vapes – from this past Sunday – was unlikely to reduce the...
US cuts affect vital cervical cancer screening, research in SA
More than 1 400 cervical cancer patients in Gauteng will be transferred to already overstretched public hospitals after the abrupt closure of several cervical...
Official claims she was ‘removed’ from post after exposing hospital scam
The Eastern Cape Department of Health has denied that the acting district manager for Nelson Mandela Bay’s clinics and the Uitenhage Provincial Hospital was...
NGO launches private prosecution against health official
Fed up with and frustrated by the state’s tardiness in laying criminal charges against the suspended head of infrastructure at the National Department of...
Mounting legal bills to defend NHI
The Health Department has spent R9.7m defending legal challenges to the National Health Insurance (NHI) Act and the National Health Act since October 2023,...
Court battle over 'unsafe' circumcision device
A tender for a circumcision device, which is used in all provincial healthcare centres and the military, is under legal scrutiny amid claims that...
Health official’s assets seized in alleged PPE fraud case
A former Health Department secretary in Mpumalanga was the subject of a Hawks raid last week, during which several luxury cars and a Sandton...
New Covid strain spreads from Asia into US
The spread of a new Covid variant – NB.1.8.1 – has been tracked in states across America after a large surge in China, although...
First blood test approved for Alzheimer’s
The first blood test for Alzheimer’s has been given the green light in the United States, paving the way for earlier treatment with newly approved...
Eastern Cape calls off hunt for whistleblower after backlash
The quest to identify the whistleblower who let the cat out of the bag about critical staff shortages at Livingstone Hospital has ended.
The Eastern Cape...
Millions set aside to fix dysfunctional hospital laundries
The Gauteng Department of Health has admitted to a “frequent breakdown of laundry machinery” but says R50m has been allocated to deal with the...
Allegations of ARV theft at Durban clinic
A former government employee from a municipal clinic in La Lucia, north of Durban, and at least one accomplice – who still works at...
NHS England rolls out ‘world-first’ gonorrhoea jab as cases rise
A vaccine for gonorrhoea is to be rolled out in England as part of a world-first programme, with officials calling it a “landmark moment for sexual...
Three medical aids fail to maintain required liquidity
The solvency rate of medical aids is down but, at 43%, is higher than the required minimum – except for three: Medihelp, Sizwe Hosmed...
Durban sounds alarm over 7 000 teen pregnancies in a year
Health officials have expressed concern over the rising number of teenage pregnancies in eThekwini, revealing that 7 627 cases were recorded between April 2024...
Brain-dead pregnant woman kept alive by US law
In a case that has reignited debate and controversy over US abortion laws, a 30-year-old woman – who has been declared brain-dead – is...
SAHPRA gives green light for emergency use mpox test
The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) has listed the first mpox in vitro diagnostic test kit – using the WHO PQ assessment...
Inquiry after baby lands on floor during birth
A Limpopo mother from whose pleas for help were dismissed when she went into labour, and whose baby was born and fell to the...
France votes to legalise assisted dying
Campaigners have welcomed the news that assisted dying is to be legalised in France, after the country’s Parliament voted in favour of a Bill...
China pledges $500m to WHO, bridging US gap
Beijing will replace the United States as the World Health Organisation’s top state donor, pledging $500m and expanding its influence as America retreats from...
New SA-based chief commercial officer for MPS International
Medical Protection Society (MPS), the world’s leading medical defence organisation which protects and supports the professional interests of more than 300 000 healthcare professionals,...
President seeks top court intervention over NHI Act ruling
President Cyril Ramaphosa says the High Court was wrong in its ruling that found his decision to sign the National Health Insurance (NHI) Act...