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News Update
Mexican man dies from new H5N2 bird flu variant
A Mexican man, 59, has died after being infected with a bird flu subtype never before confirmed to have spread to humans, the World...
Rahima Moosa Hospital again under fire over patient treatment
Gauteng Health has denied allegations that a pregnant patient was badly treated or forced to sleep in chairs and on the floor at Rahima...
New NW medical school will focus on rural health
South Africa’s new medical school that is expected to open in 2028 at North West University plans to help trainee doctors to better understand...
Cyber-attack disrupts London hospitals
A cyber-attack on major London hospitals has led to surgery cancellations and emergency patients being diverted elsewhere, and services like blood transfusions and test...
US National Academies' report underscores severity of long Covid
One of America’s premier medical advisory organisations has weighed in on long Covid with a 265-page report that recognises the seriousness and persistence of...
Campaigners call for cheaper version of costly HIV drug
Former world leaders, celebrities and a Nobel prize-winning scientist who helped discover HIV have written to US pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences pleading with it...
Concern about insulin pen shortages in SA
South African doctors have flagged a shortage of insulin pen devices for diabetics, with the warning coming hard on the heels of previous supplier...
Face masks for school as RSV cases surge
Authorities in the Western Cape Health Department have sounded a warning about respiratory infections among children, which have risen in the past month and...
State owes medical device manufacturers R1bn
The SA Medical Device Industry Association (Samed) is owed more than R1.1bn by provincial Health Departments because of administrative weaknesses that are unlikely to...
Aspen calls for regulator to prioritise locally-made drugs
Aspen Pharmacare has urged SA’s medicines regulator to support local firms by fast-tracking their applications to register new products, with head of strategic trade...
Fauci feels the heat at hearing over Covid
Former director of the UN National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr Anthony Fauci testified this week at a sub-committee House hearing about...
UK man (91) sees again after artificial cornea implant
A 91-year-old man has become the first patient in England to have his sight saved by an artificial layer in his cornea, with experts saying the...
Bird flu hits third US farmworker but symptoms differ
Although a third American farmworker has been infected with bird flu, heightening concerns about an outbreak among dairy cattle that was first identified in...
Women see GP 10 times before menopause diagnosis – UK expert
British women are having at least 10 GP visits before they get a menopause diagnosis, said an expert on the subject, who suggested almost...
Pig kidney removed from transplant patient after complications
A US transplant patient had a genetically engineered pig kidney removed last week after it started losing function – 47 days after the surgery –...
Liberty plans exit from health business
Insurer Liberty Holdings, which is wholly owned by the Standard Bank Group, may restructure parts of its operations, including its health business, as turnaround...
Florida passes law allowing C-sections out of hospitals
American doctors have warned of safely risks after a law recently passed in Florida that will allow some Caesarean sections to take place outside...
ANC 'big shot' charged for assault on paramedic
An ANC official is accused of assaulting Johannesburg paramedic Shalati Mushwana – who said he also threatened to have her fired – after she...
Regulator loses low-cost benefits legal fight
The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has rejected the medical scheme regulator’s latest attempt to avoid handing over its records on low-cost benefit options...
Global pandemic treaty talks grind to a halt
Global deliberations on an international treaty that could unite the world in a strategy against another pandemic have been unsuccessful, with countries failing to...
Gauteng Health responds to surgery backlog criticism
The Department of Health in Gauteng was able to clear 37 000 surgeries in nine months as part of its plan to reduce backlogs...
Multi-million-rand Gauteng rehab centres under investigation
Two large drug rehabilitation centres in Randfontein and Witpoort, operated by Life Healthcare, are under investigation by the Gauteng Department of Social Development, while...
Durban man in hospital for mpox
In the second lab-confirmed case in the country in recent weeks, a Durban man has tested positive for mpox and been admitted to Addington...
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,...