HomeNews Update
News Update
Union calls for HRC to probe into ‘human rights violations’ in KZN
The Public Servants Association (PSA) wants the Public Protector and the Human Rights Commission (HRC) to investigate a list of alleged health violations, including...
Hand, foot and mouth disease on the rise at Durban schools
The number of confirmed reports of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) in Durban schools has more than tripled in a week, with the...
125-year-old Eastern Cape hospital in dire straits
The shocking and dilapidated state of a rural Eastern Cape hospital that was built in 1900 led to angry locals protesting outside the facility...
Nurse accused of raping two boys
A “trusted” nurse accused of the rape and sexual assault of two teenagers will appear in the Nigel Magistrate’s Court tomorrow after his bail...
FDA alert for mix-ups tied to spinal jabs
The US Food & Drug Administration says it continues to receive reports of tranexamic acid injection being erroneously administered intrathecally instead of the intended...
UK to slash funding contribution to Gavi
The prediction that Britain is likely to cut funding to global vaccination group Gavi – which has inoculated more than 1bn children in developing...
Patient with oxygen mask dies in fire after lighting cigarette
A patient died after lighting a cigarette while apparently wearing an oxygen mask – which then sparked a fire – said the KwaZulu-Natal Department...
New app helps graduates find work experience
Profmed, the medical aid for professionals, is connecting graduate doctors with locum opportunities to strengthen the country’s healthcare system.
In South Africa, patients often travel...
Ramaphosa urged to escalate action on US funding crisis
A coalition of civil society groups has urged President Cyril Ramaphosa to lead a co-ordinated response to prevent “mass healthcare disruptions, preventable deaths, and surges...
Officials fired for Anglo Ashanti Hospital fraud and corruption
The Gauteng Government has fired five of the nine senior managers from the Gauteng Departments of Health and Infrastructure Development who were implicated in...
Still no CEOs for Eastern Cape hospitals
Eastern Cape Health MEC Ntandokazi Capa has failed to appoint CEOs for major state hospitals within the first six months of her term, as...
Union accuses Umlazi hospital of human rights abuses
The Public Servant’s Association (PSA) has called on the Human Rights Commission to intervene in a crisis at Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital in Umlazi,...
Gauteng hospitals postpone elective surgeries
A number of state hospitals in Gauteng have put elective surgeries on the back burner until the next financial year, but this will only...
Pietermaritzburg ambulance shortage at crisis point
A chronic shortage of state ambulances in Pietermaritzburg means critically ill patients are being left stranded and paramedics are fearing for their lives, with...
Young dentist hit and killed by Ferrari driver
Family and friends are mourning the loss of Durban dentist Dr Ncumisa Mdlokolo (32) who was hit and killed in Cape Town a week...
Medical profession alarmed by Kennedy’s racist theories
President Donald Trump’s choice of Robert F Kennedy to become America’s leading health official has caused consternation.
His theory, for instance, that black people have...
Penile rehab programme for botched circumcisions
After hundreds of botched circumcisions in the Eastern Cape, the provincial Health Department has launched an expanded programme to help young men whose male...
Medical equipment, dental amalgam on new mercury ban list
Medical products are among those on a list of items banned in terms of regulations for the management of mercury in South Africa, which...
Concern as Guillain-Barre syndrome cases rise in India
A six-year old boy is among around 160 reported cases of Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) since early January in Pune, India.
GBS, a rare disorder where...
Healthy babies aborted after scan misdiagnosis in new NHS scandal
An investigation has found that two British couples each made the decision to have a healthy foetus aborted because they were wrongly informed that...
Chinese regulator defends quality of local generic drugs
China’s healthcare regulator has defended the efficacy of off-patent medicines it had approved to be distributed through the country’s state hospitals – after complaints...
Sepsis and necrosis after butt-lifts, UK investigation finds
A British “beauty consultant” is carrying out potentially dangerous cosmetic procedures – many of which result in disfiguring infection and needing surgery – and...
Fat-burning jabs, steroids seized in police raid
Police have arrested a gang in Pretoria that was selling illicit drugs online, seizing a substantial quantity of counterfeit and illicit performance-enhancing drugs, steroids,...
Mother, baby die as doctors watch YouTube to perform C-section
A bereaved husband has described how a medical team at Lebechi Hospital in Owerri, Nigeria, reportedly watched a YouTube tutorial while performing a Caesarean...
Mitral clip implant first for Charlotte Maxeke Hospital
Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital has become the first government health facility in Gauteng to perform the MitraClip implant, a procedure designed to treat...
Netcare CEO delays retirement – again
Long-serving Netcare CEO Richard Friedland, who was due to retire shortly, has had his contract extended again after a selected candidate identified for his...
Reprieve for medical aids with NHI 'breakthrough'?
The government of national unity (GNU) has apparently quietly reached an “agreement” on two key aspects relating to National Health Insurance (NHI) which, if...
Unemployed doctors call for firing of Finance Minister
Fed-up and desperate unemployed health graduates are calling for Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s head, saying he should be fired for his failure to increase...
Pharmacists obliged to dispense abortion drugs if prescribed, council warns
The South African Pharmacy Council (SAPC) has issued a notice confirming pharmacists may not – based on personal beliefs, moral reasons or religious grounds...
Gauteng cancer patients still awaiting lifesaving treatment
Thousands of cancer patients – and advocacy groups – in Gauteng are still waiting in vain for news about treatment, despite the provincial Health...
Contractor linked to Health DG bribery claims wins dodgy hospital tender
The hospital contract at the centre of graft allegations against Department of Health DG Sandile Buthelezi was awarded in highly suspicious circumstances, reports Daily...
Gauteng’s compulsory teen contraception slammed as 'unlawful'
A plan by Gauteng Health & Wellness MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko to roll out compulsory contraceptive implants for schoolgirls across the province has run into...
SA’s medical aid members at tipping point, AfriForum warns
Rising medical aid costs and the possible end to tax credits on medical aid contributions could be the breaking point for many South Africans,...
Frustrated locals shut down ‘decaying’ Limpopo clinic
Fed up with a lack of action from Limpopo’s Health Department, which has been accused of not taking the community seriously, angry residents barricaded...
‘Bionic eye’ surgeries at Tygerberg gives the gift of sight
After being blind for years, two patients recently each received an artificial cornea at Tygerberg Hospital, and specialists say that thanks to private sponsor...
Ugandan nurse dies in first Ebola outbreak in two years
A nurse in Uganda has died of Ebola in the first recorded fatality since the country’s last outbreak of the disease ended in early 2023, a...
NHS opens teenage vaping clinic
In the first of its kind in England, the NHS has opened a stop-vaping clinic for Liverpool teenagers in efforts to curb the rise...
Pretoria clinic guard shot during break-in
A female security guard working at Hercules Clinic in Pretoria was shot and injured during an attempt by robbers to gain access into a...
Disability Data Initiative launches dataset to advance disability rights
The Disability Data Initiative (DDI) has launched two pioneering databases to address one of the most significant barriers to disability inclusion: the lack of...
Medical aids turn to court in long-running battle for low cost options
The Board of Healthcare Funders (BHF) will go to court in efforts to legally compel the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) to allow cheaper...