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News Update
Killer opioid fentanyl detected in SA drug users
Recent drug tests have found people at South African clinics testing positive for fentanyl – the potent opioid causing tens of thousands of deaths...
Limited batch of Panado syrup recalled
Adcock Ingram has launched a recall to SA distributors of a batch of Panado Paediatric alcohol-free grape-flavoured syrup, due to “precipitation” detected in the...
Dodgy R836m oxygen plants deal cancelled
The National Department of Health is pulling the plug on the R836m project to install oxygen plants at 55 government hospitals, telling the Independent...
Call for Northern Cape Health boss to be fired
Political parties have called for Premier Zamani Saul to sack Dr Dion Theys, head of the Northern Cape Department of Health, after the High...
SA company poised to make key TB drug ingredients
Though several South African companies are producing HIV and TB medicines, the active ingredients that go into these medicines are usually imported from India...
Nobel winners speak out against Trump’s conspiracy-theorist health boss
More than 75 Nobel Prize winners have signed a letter urging senators not to confirm Robert F Kennedy Jr, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to...
UK regulator probes anti-depressants safety alerts after suicide link
The UK’s medicines regulator is reviewing dozens of safety alerts for 30 common antidepressants, it has been revealed, after the recent suicide of a...
Morocco produces Africa’s first mpox tests
In a first for Africa, a Moroccan company is filling orders for mpox tests as an outbreak continues in the Congo and neighbouring countries,...
US bans common carcinogenic chemicals
In a decision welcomed by environmentalists and health advocates, America’s Environmental Protection Agency has banned two solvents found in everyday products that can cause...
Zimbabwe’s sick turn to herbalists as system crumbles
Zimbabwe’s health system continues to deteriorate, with hospitals lacking medicine, equipment and staff, and with frustrated patients turning to herbalists as an alternative –...
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...