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News Update
Doctors now among targets for extortion racket thugs
Healthcare facilities and professionals are the latest to be targeted by extortion racketeers, with one East London doctor forced to close his practice and...
No need to panic, say SA experts as DRC buckles under mpox spread
The outbreak of mpox on the African continent – that spurred the WHO into declaring it an international public health emergency last week –...
Eastern Cape women's lives at risk in maternity wards, commission finds
The conditions in Eastern Cape maternity wards are so dire that they are contributing to patients’ and infants’ deaths, says a report from the...
Call for moratorium on nurse recruitment from battling countries
The International Council of Nurses (ICN) wants the WHO to enforce a “time-limited moratorium of active recruitment of nurses” after a spike in nurse...
Gauteng Health rollover funds cut after failure to spend budget
The Gauteng Department of Health has received Treasury approval to roll over only R530m of the R1.1bn it failed to spend in 2023/24, which...
Fed-up union wants action from Health MEC on Umlazi Hospital
The “inhumane working conditions” at Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital in Umlazi, Durban, need urgent intervention from Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane, the Public Servants Association...
Medical aid membership constant but 'unsustainable'
The number of medical scheme members has stayed nearly constant at 9m over the past decade, according to Sanlam Private Wealth (SPW), which says...
Mass exodus of vets from South Africa
Veterinarians are leaving South Africa en masse, the resulting critical shortage creating vacancies in clinics, especially in rural areas, and with those professionals remaining...
Groote Schuur heart museum under threat of closure
The outlook looks bleak for the Heart of Cape Town Museum, commemorating the first heart transplant 56 years ago by Dr Christiaan Barnard in...
Thousands of transgender US teens had double mastectomies
A Manhattan Institute report has revealed that “gender-affirming” mastectomies for patients under 18 are more common than thought, and that at least 50 of the...
Concern as ‘super-strength’ gonorrhoea gets more drug resistant
Gonorrhoea is becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics, and could be untreatable in the future, health officials have warned as a report reveals a rise...
Indian court forms medical task force after doctor’s rape, murder
After the recent rape and murder of a female trainee doctor on hospital premises, the Indian Supreme Court (SC) has constituted a National Task Force...
Senior Eastern Cape Health official on drunk driving charges
The Eastern Cape Health Department’s deputy director-general (DDG) for HR and Corporate Services, Nwabisa Mavuso, was released on R1 000 bail last week after...
Health DG probed after R500 000 bribery allegations
Allegations that Dr Sandile Buthelezi, director-general of the National Department of Health, used health employees, contractors and companies to solicit and conceal a R500...
How the provinces stack up in state oncology treatment
Depending upon where you live, the wait for cancer treatment at a public facility can be more of a death sentence than the disease...
Department blames pharmacies for delay in Covid vaccines payment
The National Department of Health (NDoH) has blamed non-compliance, poor data capturing and other reasons for 28 pharmacies not being paid for vaccines that...
Eastern Cape to ‘repurpose’ 19 state hospitals
The flailing Eastern Cape Department of Health will “repurpose” 19 small hospitals – those with fewer than 50 beds – in efforts to save...
Tribunal rules R257m PPE contract invalid
A massive R257m personal protective equipment (PPE) contract awarded by Gauteng Health to Nkhane Projects and Supply has been declared invalid by the Special...
Liberty Health to close doors
Liberty Holdings, wholly owned by the Standard Bank Group, has confirmed its health business is shutting up shop after running at a loss for...
Parliament revives tobacco Bill
The Control of Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Bill, first introduced in the National Assembly in 2022, has been dusted off by Parliament...
MDMA therapy rejected by FDA
The US Food & Drug Administration has refused approval for mind-altering MDMA-assisted therapy, recommending instead that American drugmaker Lykos Therapeutics carry out further studies on...
NHS rolls out osteoporosis drug for menopausal women
A new drug that helps prevent bone fractures in women – and increases bone density by stimulating the cells that make new bones –...
Women-led hospital team beats blaze
Staff at a private hospital in Kroonstad, who have been praised for taking the lead in fighting an encroaching veld fire that was heading...
US rolls out flu jab to combat bird flu risk
A major flu vaccine campaign is being launched for US farm workers as concerns mount over the spreading bird flu virus in the agricultural sector, with...
Global call for more pathogen research to prepare for next pandemic
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have urged scientists and political leaders to bolster global research to...
Musk’s second patient gets brain implant chip
Just six months after the first implant, Elon Musk’s Neuralink has successfully implanted a chip into a second paralysed patient’s brain, the procedure having...
Gaza to get 1.2m polio jabs amid outbreak fears
The World Health Organisation (WHO) is planning to send 1.2m polio vaccines to Gaza within the next fortnight after the virus was detected in...
US study flags high vitamin D deficiency rates
Nearly a quarter of the US population is estimated to have a deficiency in vitamin D, particularly black women aged 20 to 29, according to data...
BMA calls for pause on Cass recommendations after doctors' complaints
Nearly 900 doctors have written to the British Medical Association (BMA), expressing “dismay” and disappointment” at the stance taken by the doctors’ union on...
Sizwe Hosmed to launch fraud probe
The Sizwe Hosmed Medical Scheme – placed under statutory management by the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) last week because of its shaky finances – is...
Regulator appeals for ‘reasonable’ medical aid hike
SA’s medical schemes regulator has appealed to the industry to limit 2025 contribution increases to the SA Reserve Bank (SARB’s) inflation forecast of 4.4% plus...
Eastern Cape Hospital tensions continue to rise
Services at the once well-functioning Zithulele Hospital are at a crossroads following more protests relating to unhappiness over the appointment two years ago of...
Mpox cases climb to 24 in SA as incidents rise in Africa
The number of mpox cases in South Africa has risen to 24, with another two cases being confirmed at the weekend – in Gauteng...
Gauteng Health fails to spend budget millions – again
Underspending of budgets has critical implications, and Gauteng Health’s failure to spend more than R1.1bn of its 23/24 budget, when there are so many...
UK approves ‘take-home’ blood cancer drug
Blood cancer patients in England are to be offered the first ever ‘take-at-home’ tablet to be approved for treatment, and recommended by the National...
EMA rejects US-approved Alzheimer’s drug
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has rejected a licence for the Alzheimer’s treatment lecanemab (Leqembi), saying the benefits did not counterbalance the risk of serious side...
NHLS back on track after cyber breach
The National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) has rebuilt and restored parts of its critical IT infrastructure and systems that were disabled by the recent...
Parolee nabbed for faeces attack on clinic worker
The irate patient accused of emptying a bucket of faeces over an employee at Thabong Clinic in the Free State has been arrested for...
UK boy first kidney patient to have robot surgery
A seven-year-old boy has become the first patient in Britain to undergo robotic surgery for a kidney condition that if left untreated, can lead to loss of kidney...
Nurse suicides linked to probes by ‘toxic’ UK nursing council
The UK nursing regulator’s chair says he will not step down after a damning report revealed that at least 16 nurses have committed suicide...