HomeNews Update
News Update
HPCSA responds to ‘impeding overseas doctors’ allegations
The Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) has denied deliberately frustrating attempts by overseas-trained South African medics to integrate with the local medical...
Mental health admissions on the rise – Netcare
Netcare, which owns 14 mental health hospitals with 1 007 beds, has said that paid patient days grew 7% in the half-year to March,...
US and Europe move to secure bird flu jabs
America and Europe are taking steps to acquire or manufacture H5N1 bird flu vaccines that could be used to protect at-risk poultry and dairy...
Big Tobacco deliberately targeting youth – WHO report
The WHO has accused tobacco companies of continuing to actively target young people via social media, sports and music festivals – and new flavoured...
Official suspended after 'leak' over Bara Hospital CEO's appointment
A “witch hunt” has been launched by the Gauteng Health MEC to uncover “the leak” over concerns raised by the Chris Hani Baragwanath HR...
South African among anti-vaxxers at African conference
The World Health Organisation came under fire as zealous right-wing African members of Parliament, including some of the continent’s most vociferous anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQI...
HPCSA allegedly impeding overseas-trained doctors’ SA integration
The Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) has been accused of “deliberately” frustrating efforts by overseas-trained South African doctors to integrate into the...
More of Big Pharma's Covid vaccine bully tactics laid bare
With the release of a second tranche of information showing how South Africa was bullied into paying outrageously high prices for its Covid-19 vaccines,...
Jobless Eastern Cape doctors threaten to storm provincial Health HQ
Fed-up unemployed Eastern Cape doctors and pharmacists are threatening to occupy the department's offices in East London, where they protested on Friday afternoon.
They told...
First human bird flu case in Australia
Australia reported its first human case of avian flu this week, in a child who had apparently been infected in India but has since...
WHO report flags global rise of STIs
A new report from the WHO shows that sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are on the rise worldwide, with chlamydia, gonorrhoea, syphilis and trichomoniasis, all of...
African countries pledge to end ‘silent disease’
African countries will prioritise plans to eliminate hepatitis, according to a declaration signed and adopted this week at the African Viral Hepatitis Conference in Cape...
Free State doctor shot in hospital living quarters
A doctor who was shot – apparently during a burglary – at Mofumahadi Manapo Mopeli Regional Hospital in QwaQwa, Free State, on Tuesday, is recovering...
SAMRC renews funding for neonatal sepsis research
The Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP) is pleased to announce renewed funding from the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) to support...
New Bara CEO’s credentials under scrutiny
The appointment of Dr Nthabiseng Makgana as the CEO of Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital has raised concerns by workers and the HR department...
HPCSA boss challenges disciplinary process
The president of the Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) is digging in his heels and questioning the council’s authority to haul him before...
Tembisa Hospital buckling under pressure of shortages
Gauteng Health’s MEC has admitted Tembisa Hospital is struggling to provide services to patients, thanks to 104 vacancies and a critical lack of equipment,...
TAC calls for six-monthly ARV supply
The Treatment Action Campaign is urging national health clinics to supply HIV patients with ARV medication supplies for six months, instead of the current...
HSPCA petitioned over big tobacco sponsorship of medical education
The National Council Against Smoking (NCAS) has lodged an objection, with more than 50 signatories, with the Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) over...
Pfizer pauses study after boy’s death in Duchenne trial
A child has died in Pfizer’s phase 2 study of its gene therapy candidate for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, the rare genetic disorder that primarily...
FDA recall as faulty insulin app crashes
More than 200 people with diabetes were injured when their insulin pumps shut down unexpectedly after a problem with a connected mobile app, the...
Master plan to boost SA’s medtech sector
To grow SA’s prospects in the medical technology (medtech) sector, the Department of Trade, Industry & Competition (DTIC) has unveiled a master plan aimed...
Mpox case confirmed in Gauteng
Gauteng authorities have confirmed a case of mpox at Ahmed Kathrada Hospital in Lenasia after a 35-year-old local man tested positive for the disease,...
Time for euthanasia law reform, academic says
A KZN academic, who is among a growing number of professionals calling for euthanasia to be legalised, has proposed a legal framework which empowers...
UK inquiry hears of mothers' maternity trauma
A British parliamentary inquiry into birth trauma has called for a national plan to improve maternity care, declaring that good care is “the exception rather than the...
Theranos founder Holmes has more jail time cut
Imprisoned Silicon Valley CEO Elizabeth Holmes has shaved more months from her initial 11-year-plus sentence for wire fraud and conspiracy, and is due to be released two years...
Pharmacy ARV treatment will erode GPs’ income – HPCSA
The Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) has warned against pharmacists being allowed to prescribe HIV treatment, saying it could affect the income of...
Overtime cuts impact on hospital services
Cutting doctors’ overtime will have a significant impact on service delivery, particularly on weekends and holidays, with one physician saying this could see hospitals...
AstraZeneca withdraws Covid jab worldwide
London-based AstraZeneca has withdrawn its Covid jab worldwide, but says the discontinuation is unrelated to legal action related to serious side effects.
“As multiple, variant...
SA to import costly cystic fibrosis drug, but few can afford it
Although US drug manufacturer Vertex has reached an agreement with Equity Pharmaceuticals to import and distribute its cystic fibrosis treatment Trikafta in SA, the...
SAMA committee member’s hunting selfie backfires
A lay pastor and a member of the South African Medical Association Research & Ethics Committee, who bragged online about getting an erection after...
Jobless pharmacists demand jobs
Unemployed community service pharmacists staged a sit-in outside the Department of Health offices in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng last week, after the national and provincial...
DA loses court case against emergency Covid restrictions
The Department of Co-operative Governance & Traditional Affairs (Cogta) has welcomed the Supreme Court of Appeal’s dismissal of the DA’s appeal over the constitutional...
Health Department weather alert app warns pregnant women
Negative effects of climate change are predicted to intensify as the world continues to warm up, and in efforts to alert pregnant women –...
Chinese scientist who first leaked Covid sequence back in lab after lockout
The scientist who in 2020 published the first sequence of the virus that causes Covid-19 has been let back into his Shanghai lab after...
CMS hits back against BHF's abuse claims
The Council for Medical Schemes has denied abusing its power to place schemes under curatorship or wasting money on unnecessary litigation, and instead, has...
Medical schemes lose R28bn to fraud every year
Fraudsters looking for gaps in the healthcare system are contributing to the rising cost of services, but medical schemes are pushing back to reduce...
Clicks pharmacy dispute resolution imminent
The resolution of the restructure of the Clicks private-label medicine business with the Department of Health is imminent, the company has suggested, with analysts...
Breast cancer screenings from 40, advises US panel
Women are now advised to have a mammogram every second year from 40 until 74, according to new recommendations from the US Preventive Services...
Mpumalanga patient waits more than a year for MRI
A bedridden father’s struggle for an MRI scan appointment has highlighted the massive healthcare challenges in Mpumalanga, where none of the main hospitals has...