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News Update
SA failing to meet palliative care needs, conference hears
Just 18% of people needing palliative care in South Africa have access to it – and over the past decade, the number of hospices...
Ageing population contributes to high cancer deaths in SA
Early detection remains critical to reducing cancer rates in South Africa, with a recent report revealing that deaths from the disease rose from 5.6%...
Call for tighter safety measures for acne drug linked to suicides
Health authorities in Britain have called for boosted safety measures when prescribing a treatment for severe acne, after reports that numerous people have committed...
Teen pregnancies surge in Eastern Cape
The rate of teenage pregnancies in the Eastern Cape has become a major concern, particularly in the OR Tambo district municipality, which leads for...
Under-diagnosis of ectopic pregnancies is killing women – UK expert
Women are dying or suffering avoidable harm because of a failure to recognise ectopic pregnancy, says a leading British maternal health expert, who has...
FDA approves first oral faecal-based therapy
The US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has given the nod to the first oral faecal microbiota product, named Vowst and developed by Seres Therapeutics,...
NHS extends ‘soup and shakes’ diet to slash diabetes epidemic
Tens of thousands of British patients will be eligible to have their type 2 diabetes reversed as the National Health Service (NHS) rolls out...
WHO alert after more contaminated Indian cough syrups detected
Another batch of contaminated Indian-made cough syrup has been found, with the WHO saying the tested samples of Guaifenesin TG syrup showed “unacceptable amounts...
Sudan health sector 'on its knees' as hospitals close, supplies dry up
Seventy percent of hospitals in Sudan have shut down and the country is running out of vital medical supplies as a result of the...
No nod yet from South Africa for African Medicines Agency Treaty
South Africa has yet to sign the African Medicines Agency (AMA) treaty, which is dedicated to improving access to quality and safe medical products...
SA hosts global congress on maternal, neonatal health
Cape Town will host the inaugural International Maternal Newborn Health Conference (IMNHC) from 8-11 May, which will bring together 1 800 delegates from across the...
AG flags irregularities as Gauteng Health bosses implicated in new graft claims
As fresh allegations of graft implicating top Gauteng health officials emerged, the Auditor-General has outlined a litany of irregularities totalling millions of rands which...
R250m Tembisa Hospital syndicate still scoring tenders
One of the companies involved in the syndicate that banked R250m in Tembisa Hospital contracts has still, since then, been paid nearly R1m by...
Alternative energy plans for healthcare facilities
The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has been tasked to conduct a due diligence study on rolling out solar energy to health...
Northern Cape’s only tertiary hospital in crisis, says DA
The DA has submitted a list of complaints and questions to Health Minister Joe Phaahla, the provincial Health MEC and the acting HoD, as...
Mental healthcare resources dire in some provinces, says Phaahla
Mpumalanga is still the only province without a specialised facility for people with dual mental health issues, with such patients having to be referred...
New clinics and hospital upgrades in KZN health budget
KwaZulu-Natal will be investing in nine new clinics and two community health centres (CHC), with construction plans already being finalised and building likely to...
Bara newborn sent home with wrong mother
Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital is investigating a case of negligence after a newborn baby was incorrectly released to the wrong mother, which was spotted...
Thousands of people still waiting for wheelchairs in Eastern Cape
The waiting list for wheelchairs in the Eastern Cape is 10 times longer than in any other province, causing tremendous suffering to 5 000...
UK launches probe into nail gel allergic reactions
The British Government is investigating reports that increasing numbers of women are developing life-changing allergies to some acrylic and gel nail products, with dermatologists...
Condoms out of stock in Gauteng
Sexually transmitted infection (STI) cases are on the rise in Gauteng, partly due to a shortage of condoms – a 45% decline in their...
Vaccine hesitancy sees drop in childhood jabs post pandemic – Unicef
The Covid-19 pandemic has been blamed for people worldwide losing confidence in the importance of routine childhood vaccines against killer diseases like measles and...
Honorary doctorate for WHO boss from Tuks
Director-General of the World Health Organisation Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has been given an honorary doctorate by the University of Pretoria in recognition of...
Microwave fire sparks false alarm at Charlotte Maxeke
A malfunctioning microwave at Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital that prompted an alert for staff to evacuate was a false alarm, said Gauteng Health last...
Limpopo night-shift nurse raped and robbed
A newly-appointed nurse was raped last week en-route to a night shift at Madumane Clinic in Tzaneen, when a man dragged her into the...
Blackouts cost state hospitals R700m in diesel – Phaahla
State hospitals are coughing up a fortune keeping the power running during Eskom’s blackouts, spending almost R700m on fuel between 1 April 1 2022...
Gauteng Health staff undergo vetting process
Nearly 2 000 Gauteng health department senior managers and officials in supply chain management (SCM) and human resource (HR) management have undergone a stringent...
Global report urges more investment in Aids war
Fully financing the HIV response in Africa to end Aids as a public health threat by 2030 will save millions of lives and improve...
SA feels the sting of snake anti-venom shortage
The critical lack of snake anti-venom in South Africa, as reported in MedicalBrief last week, is creating growing panic, and despite the National Health...
GF Jooste Hospital plans stalled for 10 years
Cape Town’s Health MEC has been grilled over a hospital in Manenberg that was decommissioned in 2013, with opposition MPs accusing the province of...
Boiler breakdown at Steve Biko Hospital affects crucial services
Services at Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Tshwane have been disrupted after the breakdown of three vital boilers, with air conditioning and air heaters,...
Colostomy bag stock still erratic at Gauteng hospitals
Six months after Spotlight first reported on the plight of stoma patients experiencing shortages of colostomy and urostomy bags at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic...
Ghana and Nigeria first countries to approve Oxford’s malaria jab
A malaria vaccine from Oxford University has secured its first approval, from Ghana, which is ramping up efforts to combat the disease that kills...
Zimbabwe plans to criminalise poaching of health workers by other countries
The Zimbabwean Government is digging in its heels, refusing to grant clearance letters to health workers now stranded in Ireland and other countries under...
Big Pharma seeks protection for IP rights
The world’s largest pharmaceutical companies’ bosses have issued a call to G7 leaders to oppose the inclusion of intellectual property rights waivers and pathogen benefit sharing...
New Covid strain raging through India more infectious than others
A new Covid variant called Arcturus, which is wreaking havoc in India – with more than 3 000 cases reported daily – has already...
Racism blamed for more black maternal deaths – UK report
A recently released UK report has found that too many black women experience healthcare treatment that falls short of acceptable standards, and that racism...
New leadership team for the WHO
Nearly a year after his appointment to a second term as the World Health Organisation’s director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has finished a revamp...
Hospital group pioneers e-scripting
In a nod to the digital era, electronic prescriptions (e-scripting) at Netcare hospitals is making traditional handwritten prescriptions obsolete, and reducing the risks of...
Beijing hospital fire kills 26
A deadly blaze at a Beijing hospital this week killed 26 patients and injured dozens of others in one of the Chinese capital’s worst...