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News Update
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...
US medical school in hot water for liquefying bodies after using for training
The University of North Texas Health Science Centre has been ordered to immediately stop its practice of liquefying bodies after using them for training...
Hijackers leave EMS crew, patient (8) on roadside
Hijackers targeted an ambulance near Qumbu in the Eastern Cape on Monday night – the fourth department vehicle to be hijacked here since January...
Discovery under fire for Israel link to summit
Despite criticism from some social media users, Discovery SA went ahead with its hosting of the global Future of Health (FOH) Summit in Cape...
First clade 1b mpox case detected in America from Africa
In the first known case in the United States, a Californian man has tested positive for the mpox Clade 1b virus that’s currently running...
Doctor shot dead outside gym
A 34-year-old female doctor at a public hospital was fatally shot outside a gym in Mbombela yesterday morning. A TimesLIVE report says local police...
Medico-legal liabilities drop as provinces adopt new measures
There has been a noticeable reduction in the contingent liabilities facing provincial Health Departments, thanks to better application of its accounting guidelines for medical...
Former Health Ombud slams fake ‘diabetes cure’ posts
Former Health Ombud Professor Malegapuru Makgoba intends pursuing legal and forensic investigations after an online article claimed he had discovered a “natural” cure for...
Woman dies after liposuction procedure as dodgy spas spread worldwide
Unregistered and dicey cosmetic surgical procedures and salons continue to lure women worldwide, writes MedicalBrief. In Kenya, authorities have declared a crackdown on illegal...
Gauteng Premier bans terbufos sales at spaza shops after poisonings
Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi has banned sales of the pesticide terbufos at spaza shops and informal traders, after the deaths of 23 children in...
'Alleged death' of key player in R836m oxygen tender project
The highly suspicious goings-on related to a multimillion-rand tender for oxygen plants at state hospitals has taken another turn with the reported and sudden...
Doctor accused of violence, domestic abuse, by wife
A Gauteng woman has accused her estranged anaesthesiologist husband of physical abuse and domestic violence, saying he has also violated protection orders and at...
DA punts private practice internships in new Bill
The DA has proposed that the government allow medical practitioners-in-training to be placed at private health facilities for internship or community service in an...
Discovery aims to launch ‘affordable’ medical aid plan
A low-cost medical scheme targeting new entrants and young professionals is in the pipeline from Discovery Health Medical Scheme, which says it will be...
Suppliers owed R743m by Gauteng Health
The Gauteng Health Department has owed 69 suppliers R743m for more than a year, with some companies now refusing to do any more business...
Broken X-ray machine and no water for five years at Limpopo hospital
Limpopo’s historic Elim Hospital, which is more than a century old, does not have a functioning X-ray machine, and has not had a reliable...
Mpox vaccine doses head for Africa’s worst hit countries, including SA
An initial 899 000 vaccine doses have been allocated for the nine African countries being pummelled by the mpox surge, said the WHO and...
Teen critical in Canada’s first human bird flu case
A teenager is in critical condition in a British Columbia children’s hospital with what appears to be Canada’s first human case of bird flu,...
British Covid denier jailed for violent threats against health chief
An "obsessive" Covid denier in the UK who suggested using a bat to “whack” Professor Sir Chris Whitty – Chief Medical Officer (CMO) for...
Un flags increase in young people with mental disorders
According to alarming statistics from the United National Children’s Fund (Unicef), one in seven young people between 10 and 19 lives with a diagnosable...
Raid uncovers illegal sale of scheduled meds
The Gauteng Department of Health has sounded the alarm after a raid uncovered the illegal sale of scheduled medication at several establishments in the...
PMB hospital gets world-class award for quality stroke care
Netcare St Anne’s Hospital in Pietermaritzburg has been recognised with top-level Diamond status by the World Stroke Organisation (WSO) Angels Initiative for its role in...
Companies partner to create secure health records from birth
Parents can now effortlessly establish a lifelong medical record for their children right from birth, thanks to a collaboration between Ajuda, a personal digital...
More suspected poisonings after death of 10-year-old girl
A 10-year-old girl died and her four-year-old sibling and mother are in a critical condition in Edenvale Hospital, Gauteng, after another case of suspected...
Nineteen-day wait for emergency op in KwaZulu-Natal hospital
The plight of a Northern KwaZulu-Natal man who fell through a roof and broke his femur echoes the stories of thousands of patients who...