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News Update
Free State doctor, grandson charged with murder for farm shooting
Dr Koos Troskie (80), who with his teenaged grandson has been accused of killing and burying a man in a shallow grave in Kroonstad...
Emergency services desperate as shortages cripple sector
South African lives are being lost – and thousands more put at risk – as the dire shortage of ambulances and paramedics continues to...
Hard reality of Trump’s aid cuts in east Africa – 100 days later
Aid cuts in east Africa have resulted in some babies being born with HIV because mothers could not get medication, a rise in life-threatening infections, and...
New tests for 55 000 UK diabetes patients after diagnostic error
At least 55 000 patients in England will be needing further blood tests after errors made by machines used to diagnose diabetes, a BBC...
GLP-1 drugs now on WHO’s essential medicines list
GLP-1 drugs to treat diabetes as well as treatments for cystic fibrosis and cancer have been added to the World Health Organisation’s essential medicines...
FDA approves J&J’s non-surgical bladder cancer treatment
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved Johnson & Johnson’s drug delivery system for a type of bladder cancer, offering a potential surgery-free option...
US pig kidney man ‘doing well’ as transplant trials due to start
A 54-year-old American is the latest to get an experimental pig kidney transplant, at a crucial point in the quest to prove if animals'...
Former US Surgeon-General calls for sacking of Kennedy
Jerome Adams, who served as US Surgeon-General during President Donald Trump’s first administration, is calling for Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy...
EU bans gel nail polish ingredient over fertility concerns
The European Union has banned a key ingredient in gel nail polish, with all 27 EU member states now being prohibited from using or...
US doctor arrested after text linked to child sex
A Michigan doctor has been arrested by the United States Marshals Service in the aftermath of a police investigation involving the solicitation of a...
Minister has eye surgery at Bara clinic
Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has successfully undergone an optical procedure at Baragwanath Hospital’s St John Eye Clinic, apparently after several months on the...
Stellenbosch University opens high-tech morphology centre
Africa’s largest and most advanced Medical Morphology Learning Centre (MMLC), which was opened at Stellenbosch University last month, will move beyond traditional teaching methods...
Kenyan Health Ministry cracks down on rampant fraud
The Kenyan Ministry of Health is determined to clean up the healthcare system, recently handing over 1 188 case files and supporting evidence to...
Mkhize implicated in new Digital Vibes evidence
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has been given court approval to introduce new evidence allegedly exposing how former Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize, his...
Doctors flag crippling cuts at major Durban hospital
Doctors have blown the whistle about a crisis at one of KwaZulu-Natal’s most important public hospitals, saying it is functioning far under capacity due...
Chronic staff shortages add to growing mental healthcare burden
The public sector averages just 0.31 psychiatrists per 100 000 people, with far fewer in remote areas, with lack of specialised facilities, collapsing infrastructure...
Dora Nginza staff down tools over unpaid overtime – again
Nurses and support staff at Dora Nginza Hospital in the Eastern Cape, who have been on a wildcat strike for a week, have apologised...
Bed linen crisis hits Bara patients
Soweto’s Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital is struggling with yet another bed linen crisis, leaving hundreds of patients without basic bedding necessities and contributing to...
Gauteng Health flags organ donor scarcity in SA
The critical shortage of organ donors is unlikely to improve unless more people become donors, with Gauteng Health MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko warning that at...
Wits team joins global mosquito observatory in malaria fight
In a collaborative drive, Wits University researchers have partnered in the continent’s first interconnected mosquito observatory network, VectorGrid-Africa, which has also launched in Tanzania,...
Limited African genetics research impacts research
Of all the human genomes that have been sequenced thus far, only 2% come from Africa, according to geneticist Veron Ramsuran, highlighting the limitations...
Malawi low on TB drugs
Malawi is running out of tuberculosis drugs, with health officials warning that stocks will dry up by the end of September – this just...
FDA approves first-in-class drug for fibromyalgia
The FDA has approved cyclobenzaprine hydrochloride sublingual tablets (Tonmya, Tonix Pharmaceuticals), a first-in-class, non-opioid treatment for adults with fibromyalgia, a chronic pain syndrome that affects more than 10m Americans,...
Firing of CDC boss prompts wave of resignations
The White House fired Dr Susan Monarez, director of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), last Wednesday after she had refused...
Tembisa fire repairs to cost R14m
Repairs to the fire-damaged Tembisa Hospital will cost R14m, according to Gauteng Health MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko, in response to a question in the Gauteng...
Kennedy to ‘reveal causes of autism’ this month
US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr is on track to identify “interventions” that are “certainly causing autism”, and possible ways...
Denmark says sorry for forced birth control in Greenland
Thousands of women and girls in Greenland received IUDs in the 1960s and 1970s, many of them without consent, and last week, the country...
Is your practice cyber-ready? Join the Ethiqal Ethics Webinar
Ethical patient record keeping is essential to modern healthcare, ensuring safe, effective and trustworthy care, so don’t miss the Ethiqal Ethics Webinar, Ethical Record...
NHI hit with two more legal suits
Two new legal suits have been lodged against the NHI in the past week, one taking aim at MPs over alleged inadequate public consultation,...
CMS seeks legal advice on racial profiling findings
The Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) is consulting lawyers on how to proceed against the three medical aids named in the Section 59 “racial...
SA mulls law review on migrant healthcare
Non-South Africans are not entitled to the full package of comprehensive healthcare provided to this country’s citizens, the chairperson of Parliament’s Health Portfolio Committee...
SA experts flag glucose 'wellness' monitors
Medical experts have expressed concern about continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) being promoted and sold in South Africa as wellness gadgets for tracking food and...
UK approves new bladder cancer treatment
Experts say a new treatment for advanced bladder cancer, which has just been approved by NHS England, could double survival time for patients and...
Eastern Cape acts to ease staff shortages, but concerns linger
The dire shortage of medical staff and the critical number of vacancies at Eastern Cape hospitals and clinics – and others, nationwide – may...
Legal battle over US foreign aid cuts
Health advocates from the US, Kenya and SA have sounded the alarm over the impacts of America’s foreign aid suspension, urging a US court...
Woman dies after allergic reaction from CT scan
What began as a routine medical examination turned tragic when a recently graduated 22-year-old Brazilian lawyer went into anaphylactic shock during a CT scan and died...
NHLS corruption clean-up pays dividends
Strategies that include a tip-off hotline are helping the beleaguered National Health Laboratory Service reduce fraud and criminality – after the organisation was rocked...
SA companies lose out on ARV drugs tender
The National Department of Health’s decision to give the lion’s share of the latest R15.5bn Aids drug tender to Aspen Pharmacare but shun many...
Botswana declares health emergency as vital medical stocks dry up
A public health emergency has been declared in Botswana, where hospitals and clinics are running out of medicine and other vital supplies and surgeries...
Zimbabwe moves on universal healthcare coverage
A new Bill before Zimbabwe’s Parliament aims to provide healthcare for everyone in the country, forcing even private hospitals to fall in line, but...