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News Update
Professor Glenda Gray appointed new GARDP board chair
The Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP) has announced the appointment of distinguished scientist and leader in the medical research community, Professor Glenda...
Chronic illness fuels substantial medical aid hikes
Private medical scheme members should brace themselves for substantial premium hikes next year, attributed to a combination of a surge in chronic conditions and...
Gauteng lacks safety compliance, Health Committee hears
Already humiliated by recent scathing headlines about their services, Gauteng hospitals are also failing to comply with occupational health and safety regulations, while others...
CMS rejects request for autoimmune guidance
The Autoimmune Alliance of SA (AASA) has had its call for guidance on funding costly treatments rejected by the medical scheme industry regulator.
The advocacy...
Gauteng initiates plan to improve health outcomes
The Gauteng Department of Health (GDH) will implement a new plan to prevent unwanted outcomes at state facilities.
Since the beginning of 2023, the GDH...
Health official in court accused of fraudulent credentials
A deputy director in the Free State Department of Health, Mmulutsi Winston Mokwai is embroiled in a fraud scandal after allegations that he used...
Unclaimed body count in state mortuaries tops 3 000
State mortuaries countrywide are becoming desperate as unclaimed bodies pile up, with the government urgently calling for families with missing loved ones to contact...
Lasker research award for Abdool Karims
South Africa’s infectious disease specialists, husband and wife team Quarraisha and Salim Abdool Karim, are among the nominees for the international Lasker Awards, a...
Virus causing paralysing illness spikes in US wastewater
A respiratory virus that sometimes paralyses children is spreading across America, raising concerns about another possible rise in polio-like illnesses, according to US health...
Swiss police swoop after suicide pod used for first time
Police in Switzerland have arrested several people after the controversial “Sarco” capsule, designed to allow its occupant to commit suicide, was used for the...
FDA clears Apple’s new sleep apnoea feature
The FDA has cleared Apple’s new sleep apnoea detection feature, which analyses a metric called “breathing disturbances” via an accelerometer measuring wrist movements indicating normal...
Musk’s vision implant gets FDA’s breakthrough device tag
Elon Musk’s brain-chip start-up Neuralink announced last week that its experimental implant aimed at restoring vision has received the US Food and Drug Administration’s...
WHO and FIFA launch global concussion campaign
A concussion awareness campaign has been launched by FIFA, the international football federation, in partnership with the World Health Organisation (WHO), in line with...
Patient found hanged in Gauteng hospital bathroom
A 36-year-old female patient admitted to Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital in Ga-Rankuwa on Saturday was found dead in a bathroom, hanging by a...
Health Ombud to investigate Helen Joseph Hospital
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has asked Ombudsman Professor Taole Mokoena to initiate a probe into Helen Joseph Hospital, saying he doesn’t want “the Gauteng...
Survey shows HIV rates soaring in Mpumalanga
Nearly 900 000 people in Mpumalanga (or 17.4% of the population) are HIV positive, giving it the dubious title of province with the highest infection in the country, according...
AG disputes Gauteng Health’s ‘successes’
Despite numerous complaints regarding poor treatment at Gauteng hospitals – including the latest, widely distributed patient video about Helen Joseph Hospital – the Health...
Labour Court orders ex-NHLS boss to repay R22m
Five years after Joyce Mogale, former CEO of the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS), was fired for contraventions of the Public Finance Management Act,...
FDA launches probe into lead, arsenic detected in tampons
The US Food and Drug Administration will be carrying out studies to investigate any potential harm to women from the presence of heavy metals,...
FDA alert on menopausal drug
The FDA has issued an alert warning women about menopausal medicine for hot flushes, saying fezolinetant (Veozah), a hormone-free pill, could cause rare but...
North West Health Department HoD on fraud charges still in post
Despite charges of fraud and contravention of the Public Finance Management Act related to a dodgy R470m contract, the head of North West Department...
Hope for Africa as WHO approves first mpox vaccine
The WHO has given its authorisation to a first vaccine to protect against mpox, the decision announced so hastily last Friday that the head...
Radical overhaul for Britain's NHS after damning report
Britain’s Prime Minister has vowed to draw up a new 10-year plan for the country’s National Health Service (NHS), after a damning report indicating...
Bird flu case raises first suggestion of human transmission
In what could possibly be the first known case in the United States, the H5N1 “bird flu” virus may have now been spread from...
Patient's viral video highlights state of public healthcare
A viral video by a patient at Helen Joseph Hospital exposing uncaring doctors and dilapidated conditions has again sparked national discussion about the attitude...
Private forensic experts to help state with medico-legal fraud
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has instructed his department to readvertise a tender for private companies to assist in its bid to reduce its expenditure...
SAMA urges action after psychiatric patient attacks doctor
The SA Medical Association (SAMA) is demanding increased security measures at healthcare facilities after a Free State patient’s attack on a doctor where nurses...
Critical vacancy rates for doctors, nurses and managers
Vacancy rates for doctors range from 22.4% in the Free State to 5.5% in the Western Cape, and for nurses, from 28% in the...
Public-private collaboration vital, HASA conference hears
SA's healthcare requires a whole system overhaul, experts at the recent Hospital Association of SA (HASA) conference agreed, offering a range of practical solutions,...
Mpox case reported in Cape Town
South Africa’s 25th laboratory-confirmed case of mpox has been reported in Cape Town, where a 38-year-old man is in a stable condition after a...
Another Valproate alert over risks of children’s disorders
British medical authorities have issued further warnings for valproate use by men, after a retrospective observational study indicated a possible association between use around...
Aviation doctor probed in fraud scandal
More than 100 pilots and aviation staff will have to redo their medical examinations within the next two weeks because a designated aviation medical...
Minister to tackle SA’s critical vet shortage
The country’s drastic shortage of veterinarians is to be taken up by Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen, who will be meeting agriculture officials and others...
Pesticides may have a role in Gauteng ‘food poisonings’
The surge in food poisoning among Gauteng children – more than 200 cases this year, with 10 of them fatal – could have been...
Health union's appeal bid dismissed by ConCourt
The Constitutional Court has dismissed the application by the Health and Allied Workers Indaba Trade Union (Haitu) for leave to appeal the Labour Court’s decision...
Aspen urges co-operation for local production of mpox vaccines
With Africa under immense pressure to curb an outbreak of the mpox, Aspen Pharmacare is “in talks” with partners to manufacture vaccines at its...
Lilly signs deal for RA drug production in Africa
Egypt’s Eva Pharma has inked a licensing deal with Eli Lilly to manufacture the latter’s rheumatoid arthritis treatment Olumiant and eventually supply the drug in 49...
WHO issues guidance to limit antibiotic-makers’ pollution
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has released new guidance on what it calls an “important but neglected challenge” in efforts to tackle antimicrobial resistance...
US boosts allowance for Japanese ADHD drug to alleviate shortage
The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has increased the production limit for Takeda Pharmaceuticals’ ADHD drug Vyvanse and its generic versions by about 24%...
Major WHO review finds no link between phones and brain cancer
A WHO-commissioned review of all available published evidence worldwide has concluded that there is no connection between mobile phone use and an increased risk...