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News Update
Budget trimmed, but emergency health funding likely
The Treasury’s latest iteration of the Budget, tabled by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana yesterday, reduces the provisional additional allocations to Health’s baseline announced in...
HIV testing drops after aid cuts, but Minister denies system collapse
The government has defended its progress in dealing with the US funding cuts and their crucial impact on HIV and Aids programmes in South...
Cancer treatment stalls as Eastern Cape Health fails to pay chemo bills
The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has launched an investigation into the halting of treatment for cancer patients in Eastern Cape hospitals, after...
Gauteng doctors throw down the gauntlet on overtime
Fed-up Gauteng doctors have warned they will no longer work any overtime at all if they are not paid for it, after the provincial...
Eastern Cape Health hunts whistleblower
The DA in the Eastern Cape has called for Livingstone Hospital to be placed under administration, while its over-worked staff fear repercussions as the...
Call for action after 155 children die of malnutrition this year
More accountability and urgent action have been called for after Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi admitted that so far this year, 155 children under five...
AI won’t take jobs, Netcare CEO reassures
Although Netcare will be focusing on an ambitious digitisation strategy, staff need not fear losing their jobs and being replaced by artificial intelligence, the...
Global obesity increasing, warns new Heart Report
Two in three adults over 25 could be obese or overweight by 2050, experts have warned, saying lack of access to healthy food and green spaces,...
US doctors’ concern over Biden's late cancer diagnosis
An announcement on Sunday that former US President Joe Biden (82) has aggressive incurable prostate cancer has raised concern among the medical fraternity, with...
SA man donates stem cells to patient in South America
When East London’s Bradley Peters (23) signed up with Matches on the Map, an inter-continental stem cell recruitment drive, he had no idea that he...
Warning for seniors after mosquito vaccine's adverse events, deaths
US health authorities have issued a warning to older travellers after two deaths were reported following vaccination against a mosquito-borne disease.
The preventative jab against...
FDA approves new drug for lung cancer
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a new medication from biotech company AbbVie that treats adults with a type of lung cancer who...
SA universities help Gaza’s medical students beat the odds
Twenty-seven final-year medical students from Al-Azhar University and Islamic University in Gaza, who were displaced from their universities after they were destroyed by Israeli...
Covid cases rising in Asian countries
Covid-19 is making a quiet comeback in Asia, with fresh waves of infection being reported in several countries. In major cities like Hong Kong...
Department denies foreign nations 'favoured' at Chatsworth hospital
The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health has slammed what is describes as false and misleading comments on social media claiming that RK Khan Hospital in...
Eastern Cape GP fined R500 000 for tax evasion
Kurunalingam Chetty, a 54-year-old doctor from East London, was sentenced last Tuesday for contravening the Tax Administration Act and ordered to pay R500 000...
British mental health inquiry hears of ‘culture of fear’
A dire shortage of registered mental health nurses in England means that staff struggle to focus on therapeutic care, according to an expert witness...
WHO pandemic agreement finally adopted
WHO member states have approved a resolution calling for the adoption of a global compact – after a more than three-year process, launched by governments during...
Disease carried by African snails hits Europe
The potentially deadly disease schistosomiasis (commonly known as bilharzia), and carried by African snails, is spreading into Europe, scientists have warned.
A neglected tropical disease,...
Activists to oppose Gauteng Health's appeal on oncology ruling
SECTION27 and other health activists were disappointed that Gauteng Health had been granted leave to appeal a judgment in favour of the Cancer Alliance...
Public servants' medical aids challenge for NHI
Redirecting the medical scheme contributions of public servants to the National Health Insurance (NHI) fund will need careful management as it will require changing...
Free State emergency healthcare tenders unlawful – Tribunal
The Free State Department of Health’s awarding of multimillion-rand tenders to an emergency services company was unlawful, according to the Special Tribunal which this...
Tembisa Hospital arson suspect in court next week
A man who allegedly confessed to starting a fire that destroyed two units at Tembisa Hospital three weeks ago has implicated several accomplices, including...
Gauteng underspends budget but owes suppliers R367m
The Gauteng Department of Health still owes service providers R367m, having paid just 21% of its invoices between January and March because of “significant...
HIV activists disrupt Parliament, urging action
HIV activists from the Global HIV Treatment Coalition interrupted the Portfolio Committee on Health yesterday, calling for a response to a letter they wrote...
Call for action on booming fake drugs trade in SA
Counterfeit pharmaceutical product sales from online platforms and vendors are skyrocketing in South Africa, according to a newly-released independent report, which has called for...
Gilead forks out $200m settlement after kickbacks to doctors
Pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences has settled a massive civil lawsuit and admitted to paying hundreds of thousands of dollars and kickbacks in the form...
US picks new bosses for top health posts
The White House has changed its mind about its nomination for America’s Surgeon-General post, withdrawing the nomination of Janette Nesheiwat in favour of Casey...
Global pandemic accord to be adopted
The pandemic treaty reached by World Health Organisation (WHO) member states in April and which took more than three years to negotiate will be...
Trump order demands price slashing from pharma industry
An executive order signed this week by President Donald Trump directing pharmaceutical companies to drop their prices in line with what other countries pay...
Top Liberian doctor struck off over qualification doubts
The head of Liberia’s doctors’ association has been banned from practising medicine after a regulatory body said it did not have evidence of his...
US cuts off Zambian aid after theft of health supplies
Zambian Ministers have reacted angrily to the United States having further slashed health aid to the country, after the American ambassador publicly referring to...
NIH grant funds first comprehensive syphilis test
With global syphilis cases on the rise, the news of a $2.7m research grant towards the development of a one-stop diagnostic test has been...
Surgeon honoured for voluntary service on Mercy Ships
An American surgeon – Dr Gary Parker (72) – who has dedicated nearly 40 years to providing free, life-changing surgeries to African patients, has...
Netcare denies refusing to treat police officer over City's debt
Netcare Hospital Division has denied claims that Netcare Milpark Hospital turned away an injured Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) officer allegedly because of a...
Donors commit emergency funding as 100 researchers lose jobs
The dire consequences of the US withdrawal of funding to South African health programmes continue, with Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi saying that more than...
Digital Vibes won R150m tender despite bid errors, court hears
Digital Vibes won a R150m tender after resubmitting its bidding documents that had been incomplete when it initially made the submission, according to testimony...
Durban clinic denies sex worker ARVs
A Durban sex worker was refused ARVs by a clinic at Addington Hospital and told to “go and work” so that she could buy...
WHO backs global use of weight-loss drugs
Marking a shift in its approach to treating the global health problem, the World Health Organisation will officially back using weight-loss drugs to treat...
UK players lobby for soccer bodies to pay brain injury costs
British campaigners say that existing support for former football players diagnosed with brain conditions – like dementia – is “not fit for purpose”, with...