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News Update
Cleared doctor back on track to reclaim his private hospital
Relieved Eastern Cape doctor Chwayita Yako, previously accused of theft and fraud, was exonerated last week when the Easern Cape High Court (Mthatha) set...
CMS urged to clarify cover for pricey medicines
The Council for Medical Schemes is “failing South African patients” and needs to clarify the extent to which schemes are obliged to cover costly...
HASA urges mandatory medical aid enrolment to reduce public load
The Hospital Association of SA (Hasa) has predicted a massive 50% rise in spending on people reliant on public healthcare, and called for the...
SIU reveals businessman as 'critical player' in R600m PPE tender scandal
There has been slow progress in the Special Investigating Unit’s attempts to recover R390m from businessman Robert Gumede and his companies, linked to a...
Africa still awaiting mpox jabs from the West, despite promises
Despite the thousands of mpox doses promised to Africa, no vaccines have yet been delivered to any of the countries affected by the outbreak...
Health DG gets court order to prevent Hawks accessing phone
Health Department Director-General Dr Sandile Buthelezi was granted a court order preventing the Hawks from accessing his “personal” cellphone – after its seizure in...
Digital Vibes case postponed as accused seeks pension to pay lawyers
The corruption trial of Popo Maja, former director of communications in the national Health Department who was implicated in the Digital Vibes case, was...
FDA urged to expedite hair straightener ban
The US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has been asked why it has twice delayed its target date to propose a ban on hair...
Food poisoning kills 10 Gauteng children this year
Out of the more than 200 food poisoning cases affecting children in Gauteng since February, 10 have resulted in death – the latest fatalities...
Frere Hospital denies dumping medical waste
The Eastern Cape Department of Health has categorically denied allegations that Frere Hospital was involved in the illegal dumping of medical waste, after circulation...
Health compact signed minus key stakeholders
Deputy President Paul Mashatile signed the Presidential health compact last week despite the boycott by various medical and business organisations, and without acknowledging the...
SA’s under-fives hungry, neglected and dying – Child Gauge 2024
One out of every 25 babies born in South Africa dies before turning five, with most under-fives facing hunger, neglect and developmental issues, according...
Tembisa corruption losses balloon to R3bn
Taxpayer losses to Tembisa Hospital corruption networks, first identified by whistle-blower Babita Deokaran, have risen to as much as R3bn, says the Special Investigating...
GP sentenced for SARS tax evasion
A Kimberley doctor has been found guilty of eight counts of failing to submit income tax returns and 42 counts of failing to submit...
Germany, Japan, offer Africa mpox vaccine doses
Germany is to donate 100 000 mpox vaccine doses from its military stocks to help contain the outbreak in Africa, its government announced this...
Armed gang storms clinic for fifth time
A clinic in Dispatch was attacked yet again last week, the fifth time in 12 months, with patients being robbed of their phones and...
Free State Health MEC promises support for foreign-trained medics
Free State Health MEC Viceroy Mahlatsi has committed to “facilitating ministerial engagements with the HPCSA, Pharmacy Council and SANC to find a way of...
Three major hospital projects in pipeline for Cape Town
The Western Cape Department of Health says it is going full steam ahead with its plans for new facilities and three major projects that...
NHLS back on track after cyber hack
South Africa’s 230 health laboratories, which service 85% of the population, are back in action and all systems fully restored after the disruption and...
Gauteng Health in trouble for unpaid R1bn owed to suppliers
The Gauteng Department of Health is in hot water again, this time after a summons by the provincial Health Portfolio Committee to explain why...
Polokwane Hospital X-ray unit blows up
A massive blast in the X-ray department at Polokwane Hospital in Limpopo last week injured three people and abruptly curtailed services, with patients having...
Lung cancer vaccine trial launches in UK
A new vaccine that fights lung cancer is being tested for the first time on patients in the UK, with researchers saying it could...
UK launches global-first study to ID stem cell super donors
Britain has just launched a world-first study to identify people who could be stem cell super donors, with scientists planning to analyse DNA samples...
UK doctors’ union calls for curb on vapes
The British Medical Association is urging Ministers to introduce legislation to curb the “epidemic” of vaping in the UK, saying the devices should only...
Measles closes Northern Cape schools
Four schools were closed in the Northern Cape on Thursday last week after an outbreak of measles, with cases having rapidly escalated from 16...
Outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease in Free State
A small suspected outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease (a strain of the Coxsackie virus) has been confirmed by the provincial Health Department at...
New Wits burns unit opens at Bara
Wits University has opened its new Roy McAlpine Burns Unit at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital – which has the only public burns...
Maye Musk scholarship for Master's nutrition students at UFS
Elon Musk’s mother, Dr Maye Musk, has founded a scholarship to support serving students who intend to study nutrition or dietetics at the University...
Doctors now among targets for extortion racket thugs
Healthcare facilities and professionals are the latest to be targeted by extortion racketeers, with one East London doctor forced to close his practice and...
No need to panic, say SA experts as DRC buckles under mpox spread
The outbreak of mpox on the African continent – that spurred the WHO into declaring it an international public health emergency last week –...
Eastern Cape women's lives at risk in maternity wards, commission finds
The conditions in Eastern Cape maternity wards are so dire that they are contributing to patients’ and infants’ deaths, says a report from the...
Call for moratorium on nurse recruitment from battling countries
The International Council of Nurses (ICN) wants the WHO to enforce a “time-limited moratorium of active recruitment of nurses” after a spike in nurse...
Gauteng Health rollover funds cut after failure to spend budget
The Gauteng Department of Health has received Treasury approval to roll over only R530m of the R1.1bn it failed to spend in 2023/24, which...
Fed-up union wants action from Health MEC on Umlazi Hospital
The “inhumane working conditions” at Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital in Umlazi, Durban, need urgent intervention from Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane, the Public Servants Association...
Medical aid membership constant but 'unsustainable'
The number of medical scheme members has stayed nearly constant at 9m over the past decade, according to Sanlam Private Wealth (SPW), which says...
Mass exodus of vets from South Africa
Veterinarians are leaving South Africa en masse, the resulting critical shortage creating vacancies in clinics, especially in rural areas, and with those professionals remaining...
Groote Schuur heart museum under threat of closure
The outlook looks bleak for the Heart of Cape Town Museum, commemorating the first heart transplant 56 years ago by Dr Christiaan Barnard in...
Thousands of transgender US teens had double mastectomies
A Manhattan Institute report has revealed that “gender-affirming” mastectomies for patients under 18 are more common than thought, and that at least 50 of the...
Concern as ‘super-strength’ gonorrhoea gets more drug resistant
Gonorrhoea is becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics, and could be untreatable in the future, health officials have warned as a report reveals a rise...
Indian court forms medical task force after doctor’s rape, murder
After the recent rape and murder of a female trainee doctor on hospital premises, the Indian Supreme Court (SC) has constituted a National Task Force...