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News Update
Frustrated doctors slam union for lack of action
A collective of 126 frontline South African doctors – from more than 40 public and private healthcare institutions countrywide – has lambasted the SA...
Costly ‘sick leave’ endemic among government staff
Sick leave costs in the public service skyrocketed between 2020 and 2023 – from R8bn in 2020 to R11.5bn in 2022 before dipping slightly...
Six Gauteng hospitals failed in pandemic response, PP finds
The Public Protector (PP) has found that "administrative deficiencies" led to some of Gauteng's public hospitals failure to respond effectively to the Covid-19 pandemic,...
Second death linked to muscular dystrophy gene therapy
Biotech drugmaker Sarepta Therapeutics has reported a second death in connection with its gene therapy for muscular dystrophy, and paused shipments of the therapy, Elevidys, for...
KZN patient registration system struggles to get going
Implementation of the Health Patient Registration System (HPRS) in KwaZulu-Natal is being hamstrung by a budget shortfall and issues relating to internet connectivity, according...
Fake SAHPRA cannabis licence warning
The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) has issued a warning about service providers using falsified licences to gain public trust and conduct...
Gauteng hospital patients without hot water
Patients at nine hospitals in Gauteng have been without hot water for six weeks, thanks to leaking and broken boilers, compressors and tanks, according...
Thousands of Gauteng patients wait for MRI scans
A backlog of 3 563 patients awaiting MRI scans at Gauteng Hospitals is cause for concern, says the DA, with shadow health Minister Jack...
Government applauded for HIV combat efforts amid US cuts
South Africa’s efforts to maintain its fight against HIV-Aids, despite the massive funding cuts from the United States, have been acknowledged by United Nations...
WHO extends mpox emergency after African surge
After a World Health Organisation (WHO) emergency committee meeting last week on the mpox upsurge in Africa, the group’s director-general has accepted the recommendation...
Australia lifts ban on gay, bisexual blood donors
Australia has scrapped its rules banning sexually active gay and bisexual men from donating blood and plasma – from 14 July this year –...
New Covid-19 variant not detected in SA
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) had said there was “no need to panic” about the new Covid-19 variant known as Nimbus or...
SA's expired cancer strategy still to be replaced
With the incidence of cancers in South Africa predicted to almost double by 2030, government's strategy to combat cancer has not been updated for...
Upgraded technology for Gauteng hospitals to reduce backlogs
New MRI machines have been installed at Steve Biko Academic Hospital and Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital by the Gauteng Department of Health (GDoH),...
Cape Town sees rise in foodborne illnesses
An escalation in foodborne illnesses – since July 2022 – has seen Cape Town’s microbiological lab testing nearly 5 000 food samples, just over...
Maties students launch SA’s first transplant support unit
A dedicated specialised support unit for organ donors, dubbed the “Life Pod”, was launched at Tygerberg Hospital last week, the first-of-its-kind facility in Africa.
The...
US physicians want investigation after Kennedy fires CDC vaccine panel
Outraged American physicians have called on HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to immediately reverse his decision to fire all 17 sitting members of...
Peanut butter firm to cough up R500 000 for dodgy products
A Cape Town supplier – House of Natural Butters (trading as Eden All Butters) – has been slapped with a hefty R500 000 fine...
Gates pledges his fortune to African health, education
Bill Gates will spend most of his wealth on improving health and education services in Africa over the next 20 years, the billionaire Microsoft co-founder...
Chinese hospitals to offer epidurals to boost childbirth rates
China has said that by the end of 2025, all tertiary level hospitals – those with more than 500 beds – must offer epidural...
Ramaphosa granted ConCourt hearing for NHI appeal
The Constitutional Court has granted President Cyril Ramaphosa direct leave to appeal the High Court judgment – in May – regarding his decision to...
Judge rejects bid to have hospital tender fraud case ‘struck off’
South Africa’s most expensive, multibillion-rand mental hospital was central to a Kimberley Magistrate Court case this week in which former Northern Cape MEC John Block and...
Millions outstanding to medical device firms from state departments
The government has been sharply rebuked yet again for its tardiness in paying outstanding bills to small suppliers, with the SA Medical Device Industry...
Hackers target Mediclinic staff data
Mediclinic says employment-related data was affected in a cyber-security breach affecting a third-party IT service provider.
MyBroadband reported that cyber-extortion gang Everest Group had claimed...
Public Protector lays bare structural problems at Eastern Cape Health
The Eastern Cape Department of Health has been slammed by the Public Protector in a damning report for failing to provide adequate equipment and...
Family in battle with medical scheme to cover rare cancer drug
The family of an Eastern Cape man is squaring up to take on the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS), after an unsuccessful struggle to have...
Staff shortages leave North West hospital ‘broken’
Patients are being left untreated for weeks and surgeries postponed amid a ballooning crisis at Bophelong Provincial Hospital in the North West, where severe...
TikTok doctor wants R2m payout for ‘unlawful arrest’
A letter apparently sent to the SAPS demanding R2m in compensation for the “unlawful arrest” of TikTok doctor Matthew Lani in 2023 has not...
New antibiotic heads for final phase testing
The first new antibiotic in 50 years to tackle a common superbug is expected to be tested on patients soon, Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche...
RFK Jr threatens to ban scientists from publishing in top journals
US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr has threatened to stop government scientists from publishing their work in major medical journals as part of...
Ethiopia reports first mpox cases
Mpox is continuing to spread across the continent, with the first three cases being reported in Ethiopia last week and the Africa Centres for...
Tobacco industry deliberately targets teens, says Phaala
Vapes have come under renewed criticism from pubic health advocates, with Deputy Health Minister Joe Phaahla accusing the tobacco industry of deliberately targeting non-smokers...
Probe rules out link between hospital and staff’s brain tumours
Massachusetts health officials have completed an inspection of Newton-Wellesley Hospital after six current and former nurses on the fifth-floor maternity unit reported having brain tumours.
A nursing...
Moderna reels as US cancels $700m for bird flu jab
In a decision which has been slammed by scientists, the Trump administration has cancelled a contract awarded to Moderna for the late-stage development of...
UK’s disposable vape ban ‘unlikely’ to have much impact
A British campaign group has warned that the country’s ban on single-use vapes – from this past Sunday – was unlikely to reduce the...
US cuts affect vital cervical cancer screening, research in SA
More than 1 400 cervical cancer patients in Gauteng will be transferred to already overstretched public hospitals after the abrupt closure of several cervical...
Official claims she was ‘removed’ from post after exposing hospital scam
The Eastern Cape Department of Health has denied that the acting district manager for Nelson Mandela Bay’s clinics and the Uitenhage Provincial Hospital was...
NGO launches private prosecution against health official
Fed up with and frustrated by the state’s tardiness in laying criminal charges against the suspended head of infrastructure at the National Department of...
Mounting legal bills to defend NHI
The Health Department has spent R9.7m defending legal challenges to the National Health Insurance (NHI) Act and the National Health Act since October 2023,...
Court battle over 'unsafe' circumcision device
A tender for a circumcision device, which is used in all provincial healthcare centres and the military, is under legal scrutiny amid claims that...