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News Update
GEMS slashes premiums after uproar
The Government Employees Medical Scheme (GEMS) has caved into pressure and announced a further reduction in its 2026 contribution increase, dropping the weighted average...
Successful birth of quadruplets for Mpumalanga mother
Experts say the chances of conceiving quadruplets are extremely low, so the birth of four babies to an Mpumalanga mother last month was a...
Lifelong effects for toddler poisoned by gold cake dust
Doctors have told the parents of an Australian toddler placed in a week-long induced coma after accidentally inhaling a toxic cake decorating product that...
Life Healthcare patient numbers slip
Declining patient numbers at Life Healthcare saw the company’s share price drop by double digits last week, with the change being linked to the...
Integrated Health Hub launched by Dis-Chem
As part of a broader strategy to boost what it’s described as an integrated healthcare ecosystem, and to slash costs and improved care access,...
Global Fund to cut SA’s grant by 25% in two years – in eight years it will be gone
South Africa has less than eight years before one of the most important sources of funding for its HIV and TB programmes falls away,...
Hantavirus outbreak on cruise ship sparks alarm
The South African Health Department has said there is no need for the public to panic after three passengers died from the rodent-borne hantavirus...
SA experts baffled by drop in teen pregnancies
Contrary to the norm, the most recent statistics show that teenage pregnancies in the country are reversing their usual trend and actually dropping, leaving...
Bodybuilder doctor accused of beating another wife
A Pietermaritzburg-born doctor and professional bodybuilder appeared in a Polokwane court this week on charges of assaulting his second wife – after being convicted...
Military pensioners’ medical fund urgently needs lCU, says DA
The DA has called for intervention in the SA Military Health Service Regular Force Medical Continuation Fund (SAMHS) which faces imminent collapse, threatening the...
SAHPRA call on phenylephrine in decongestants not related to quality
SAHPRA has clarified last week’s notification on phenylephrine contained in oral cold and flu treatments in which it asked for consumer input, saying its...
UCT launches pioneering Liver Centre
The launch of a ground-breaking, multi-disciplinary liver centre, pioneered by clinicians at the University of Cape Town, represents a new dawn for patients suffering...
Ambulance crisis worsens TB burden in rural Eastern Cape – report
The scarcity of ambulances in rural areas continues to compromise patient care, particularly those with TB, reports IOL, with the Rural Health Advocacy Project...
Probe into Uitenhage Hospital stockouts
An investigation has been launched into major stock shortages at Uitenhage Hospital, with questions being asked about why the problem was not flagged earlier,...
Red Cross Children’s Hospital celebrates 70 years
The first and only stand-alone tertiary hospital in sub-Saharan Africa dedicated entirely to child healthcare, the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital in Cape...
Apology after women filmed carrying water buckets in wards
A video of mothers lugging buckets of water through an Eastern Cape Hospital ward has prompted an apology from the Department of Health after...
Toothpaste brand nailed over advertising claim
Popular toothpaste Sensodyne is no longer allowed to claim it is the “No. 1 dentist-recommended toothpaste”, unless it has a prominent qualifier – this...
New military hospital misses opening date
The tentative August 2025 opening date for the fourth SA Military Health Service (SAMHS) hospital in Gqeberha has come and gone, and although the...
Kennedy stalls $600m in jabs for poor countries
US Health & Human Sciences Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s push to remake the US vaccination schedule is on hold after a federal judge’s...
Ghana says no to US health deal
Late last year Zimbabwe rejected the United States’ “trade for aid” terms for a health assistance deal, and now Ghana has done the same,...
Questions after hospital discharges pain-wracked child with Panado
The KZN Department of Health has responded to a Durban mother who questioned why her daughter was discharged from Wentworth Hospital’s emergency unit with...
Action urged for sickle cell disease in Nigeria, across Africa
The growing burden of sickle cell disease in Nigeria – and across sub-Saharan Africa – has prompted calls by health professionals and researchers for...
CDC flags rise in drug-resistant Shigella
Extensively drug-resistant Shigella – the mostly sexually-transmitted bacterium that causes infectious diarrhoea – is on the rise in the United States, reports Healio.
The latest...
Anti-depressant recall in UK after wrong meds in pack
A British pharmaceutical company had recalled more than 80 000 packs of a commonly used antidepressant after a patient discovered the wrong medicine inside...
SA surgeon performs Africa’s first lymphatic bypass for Alzheimer’s
A Pretoria surgeon who this month carried out the continent’s first experimental lymphovenous bypass on an Alzheimer’s patient said there had been early signs...
SAHPRA calls for public input on flu medicines
The SA Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) has asked consumers to report any adverse events from cold and flu products containing phenylephrine as it...
Job fears as staff, corporate ‘overhaul’ planned for Dis-Chem
A major restructuring plan is on the cards for pharmacy giant Dis-Chem, which employees fear may put several hundred jobs – from its 22...
Police boss suspended over controversial health tender
South African police chief General Fannie Masemola, who has denied any role in the controversial R360m health tender awarded to Vusi “Cat” Matlala’s company...
Dental council opposes legal action over students' accreditation
The impasse between dental technology students countrywide and the South African Dental Technicians Council (SADTC) looks unlikely to be resolved any time soon, with the regulator’s...
Court denies Health spokesman’s bid to dismiss fraud charges
The East London Specialised Commercial Crimes Court has rejected a bid by the defence to drop charges of fraud and corruption against Eastern Cape...
Court upholds dismissal of Health Department official
The firing of a Western Cape Department of Health employee for – among other things, disrespectful behaviour – was fair and reasonable, ruled the...
ConCourt should shape legal position on right to die – DignitySA
DignitySA, which is campaigning for the decriminalisation of assisted dying – and which has raised R4.6m of its R7m target so far – believes...
Novel HIV combo pill gets FDA nod
Merck has received FDA approval for its Idvynso, a combination regimen that brings its novel islatravir to market for the first time, offering an alternative...
Mystery illness in Burundi kills five
At least five people have died in Burundi, and another three dozen become ill from unexplained causes, reports CIDRAP News.
The case-fatality rate of 14%...
Lifetime smoking ban for under-18s in UK
Lawmakers in Britain have approved new and stricter smoking legislation so that children who are 17 or younger – and anyone born in the...
CDC blocks report showing Covid jabs cut hospital visits
A report showing the efficacy of the Covid-19 vaccine and previously delayed by the head of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention...
The down side of cheap sex pills
Seeking a quick boost to enhance sexual performance is not that uncommon, but experts warn that cheap unapproved black market products, taken without medical...
Africa, Europe sign €100m in pacts to boost health systems
Three agreements have been signed between the African Union and the European Commission to reinforce and strengthen Africa’s health systems, reports Health Policy Watch.
The...
Illegal pharmacy shut down in Eastern Cape
An Eastern Cape woman woman (54) has been arrested and is facing multiple charges, including possession of scheduled substances and practising without proper registration,...
Doctor arrested over unlicensed gun
A 40-year-old medical doctor was to appear in an East London court this week after being arrested on Friday at King Phalo Airport for...