HomeNews Update
News Update
UK man calls for guideline changes after near death linked to tooth extraction
A Welshman who survived two bouts of endocarditis after having a tooth pulled out – without prior antibiotic treatment – is calling for changes...
'Medical misogyny' behind inadequate care for UK women
Women and girls are enduring years of pain because their reproductive conditions are being dismissed due to “medical misogyny”, according to a damning UK...
WHO experts to probe mystery disease in DRC
Health experts have been deployed to the Democratic Republic of Congo by the WHO to try to determine the cause of an undiagnosed disease...
UK bans daytime TV ads for ‘junk food’
In efforts to combat rising obesity in the country, particularly among youngsters, the British government is banning daytime TV adverts for sugary foods like...
Leadership issues at Gauteng Health raise concern
Criticism of leadership and governance at Gauteng Health is increasing as the department repeatedly makes headlines for questionable appointments. This unfolds alongside a damning...
Surgery backlogs balloon as billions slashed from budget
Surgical backlogs continue to rise countrywide, as reduced budgets and staffing shortages eat away at public healthcare capacity, and institutions and medical professionals feel...
Mashatile promises patients six-month supply of ARVs
Deputy President Paul Mashatile has announced that the government will provide HIV-positive patients with a six-month supply of antiretroviral (ARV) medication, a notable boost...
EMS staff probed for ambulance sabotage
The Mpumalanga Department of Health has confirmed that its own Emergency Medical Services (EMS) staff appear to behind the sabotage of 24 of their...
Gauteng Health running out of money, says DA
Ever-increasing piles of unpaid suppliers’ invoices are compounding challenges at government hospitals, particularly in Gauteng, with risks to stocks of basics like needles and...
New healthcare scam flagged
Patients are urged to remain vigilant in the wake of a new scam in which fraudsters are disseminating alarming messages with fake test results,...
Infections rise as 143 die from unknown disease in Congo
An unknown disease killed 143 people in the DRC’s southwestern province last month, with the victims reporting flu-like symptoms, including high fever and severe...
Pepfar boss to resign before Trump takes office
Ambassador John Nkengasong, head of the US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar), says that because he is a political appointee, he will be...
Trump picks Stanford physician for NIH
President-elect Donald Trump has selected Jay Bhattacharya, a Stanford-trained physician and economist who criticised coronavirus lockdowns, to lead the National Institutes of Health, the...
US lawmakers want state-wide ‘generational tobacco ban’
A group of lawmakers in Massachusetts are urging their colleagues to support a proposal making the state the first to adopt a ban that...
FDA defends denial of flavoured vapes in legal tussle
The US Supreme Court appeared sympathetic this week to arguments that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) acted properly when it rejected applications to...
UK MPs support Bill to legalise assisted dying
Proposals to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales have been backed by British MPs in a landmark vote that paves the way for...
Taliban abruptly bans Afghan women’s midwife courses
Women who were training as midwives and nurses in Afghanistan have been ordered not to return to classes, effectively closing off their last route...
NICD warns of outbreak linked to probiotic
A warning has been issued by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) regarding an outbreak of Alkalihalobacillus clausii (A. clausii) bacteraemia linked to...
Contraceptive pills recalled in SA after packaging ‘mix-up’
Bayer has recalled a batch of Yaz Plus contraceptive pills in South Africa over a packaging “mix-up” it says could compromise its efficacy.
“In close...
Gauteng Health denies blowing oncology millions
Activist organisations this week challenged the Gauteng Department of Health in court over the R784m budget intended to tackle an oncology backlog, accusing it...
Costly Cuban medical training programme ended
The SA Military Health Service (SAMHS) is to finally curtail its costly medical training programme with Cuba and will no longer send students there...
North West Health defends R36m ‘irrational’ lawsuit
Despite legal advice recommending otherwise, the North West Department of Health is forging ahead to defend a R36m lawsuit – being stubbornly pursued by...
Another death from suspected food poisoning
An eight-year-old grade 2 pupil from Thabisile Primary School in Diepkloof, Soweto, who had fallen ill last Wednesday after apparently eating biscuits bought from...
Former Life Esidimeni patient loses eye after assault at hospital
The family of Lucky Khumalo (43), previously a Life Esidimeni patient, want answers after he was violently assaulted at a Johannesburg psychiatric hospital –...
Union calls for safety audits at healthcare facilities after fire
The Public Servants’ Association has called for an immediate audit of all public healthcare facilities to assess fire hazards and other risks, after a...
Lab leak mistake most likely source of Covid, says UK expert
Covid more than likely came from a laboratory leak in China, the British professor behind a virus symptom tracker has said, adding that it...
Suicide pod creator denies first user was strangled
The right-to-die activist behind the “Sarco” suicide capsule has rejected what he calls “absurd” allegations that the American woman who was its first user...
WHO green-lights emergency listing for Japan’s mpox jab
In a welcome move for regions in Africa being pulverised by mpox, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has granted emergency use listing for Japan’s...
Climate change will worsen health burden, warns SA expert at COP29
Climate change is accelerating the spread of disease, according to SA scientist Professor Tulio de Oliveira, who warns that pathogens are spreading across borders...
Governments’ support urged for purchase of regional mRNA jabs
Developing countries’ governments should reassure vaccine manufacturers investing in mRNA technology that they will buy the shots they produce, said the head of the...
New pill cuts genetic cholesterol by nearly 86%, finds mid-stage trial
The highest dose of an experimental pill has dramatically lowered an inherited form of high cholesterol in a mid-stage trial.
Eli Lilly announced that, according...
ANC backs Premier in HPCSA inquiry
Limpopo Premier Phophi Ramathuba has the ANC’s full support for her 2022 remarks to a Zimbabwean patient in Bela Bela Hospital about foreigners “killing”...
Randburg Clinic crisis of one doctor for 400 patients
Johannesburg’s Randburg Clinic is sagging beneath the weight of limited resources and growing patient numbers, resulting in long waits in overcrowded conditions and regular...
Action plan launched to combat food poisonings in SA
Children from a primary school in Limpopo were checked for suspected food poisoning last Thursday after 75 of them complained of stomach ache –...
Global Fund to probe fishy oxygen tender
Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi said last week that the Geneva-based Global Fund is sending its own investigators to SA to probe allegations that...
Calls for removal of Gauteng Health boss
The DA has urged Premier Panyaza Lesufi to remove HoD Lesiba Malotana – one of three officials implicated in the Special Investigating Unit’s (SIU)...
Trump picks celebrity TV doc among other controversial health appointees
President-elect Donald Trump has caused more concern in health circles with his selection this week of celebrity doctor, cardiothoracic surgeon Mehmet Oz, to oversee...
Critical healthcare deal in Gauteng teeters on the brink
An extended impasse over a vital agreement for training and improved hospital management between the Gauteng Department of Health and Wits University remains derailed,...
Critical linen shortage at Bara after laundry failure
Gauteng’s Health Department has had to step in after linen supplies at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital ground to a halt when the washing...
WHO alert as measles surge worldwide
Measles cases are escalating worldwide at an alarming rate – mainly due to a drop in vaccines – according to a report from the...