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News Update
Only 270 out of 800 unemployed doctors placed
Out of the 800 unemployed doctors who recently petitioned the National Department of Health for jobs, just 270 have been appointed across the country,...
Eastern Cape Health starts year owing billions in unpaid bills
The Eastern Cape Department of Health, which owes suppliers R4.8bn, is in an increasingly fragile financial position – with critics saying there is no...
Eli Lilly warns of insulin shortages
Two formulations of insulin from Eli Lilly would be temporarily out of stock until the beginning of April, the company has said, citing a...
Call to declare TB a national crisis
Hundreds of people marched to the Department of Health in Pretoria last week, urging the government to escalate measures to tackle the problem of...
FDA approves ‘world’s costliest drug’ for children with MLD
A new gene therapy for the fatal genetic disorder metachromatic leukodystrophy, or MLD, will carry a wholesale price of a whopping $4.25m, its manufacturer...
Kenya faces health crisis as doctors strike looms
Kenyan doctors countrywide, including those in private hospitals, have given a seven-day ultimatum to the government under threat of a nationwide strike.
They doctors are...
Global leaders call for urgent agreement on pandemic deal
A group of more than 100 global leaders has called for governments to reach agreement on an international deal to prepare for and prevent...
‘Store acne cream in fridge to cut cancer risk – US experts
Some dermatologists are now recommending people refrigerate benzoyl peroxide products like Proactiv and Clearasil, after an independent lab in the United States found they...
Woman (81) dies after removal of ‘stone baby’ foetus
A Brazilian woman has died after surgery to remove an ultra-rare “stone baby” she had been carrying inside her for around 56 years, the...
Trio ‘bust’ for allegedly selling medicines to teens
Three KZN men have been arrested after police found them in possession of Schedule 5 medication, which they were allegedly selling to teenagers.
One of...
Temporary ambulance numbers as Eastern Cape phones cut
With Telkom lines to most Eastern Cape Department of Health facilities being cut due to non-payment of bills, the phone numbers of ambulance bases...
Scientists say they can cut HIV out of cells
Scientists say they have successfully eliminated HIV from infected cells, using Nobel Prize-winning CRISPR gene-editing technology.
Working like scissors, but at the molecular level, it...
Gauteng hires experts to help tackle toxicology backlog
Gauteng Health’s oldest outstanding toxicology test goes back a jaw-dropping 17 years – just one of more than 17 000 “cold cases” and more...
Call for action as DRC mpox spreads via heterosexuals
Experts are calling for urgent focus on the outbreak of mpox that appears to be spreading through heterosexual contact in the Democratic Republic of...
Outcry over Gambian Bill to overturn FGM ban
A decision on whether to reverse a ban on female genital mutilation (FGM) in The Gambia – which was imposed in 2015 – has...
Bayer seeks approval for ‘hot flushes’ drug
German pharmaceutical company Bayer will request regulatory approval for its menopause medication after the daily pill was shown to ease hot flushes in a...
New Zealand to ban disposable vapes
New Zealand is to ban the sale of disposable e-cigarettes, increase fines on retailers that sell to under-18s, and improve retailer regulations – this...
WHO elaborates on resistance to ARV medicine
Although the WHO recently reported that drug resistance to the gold-standard antiretroviral medicine, dolutegravir, “exceeded levels observed in clinical trials”, it has since elaborated,...
NHS England bans puberty blockers at clinics
British children who have gender dysphoria will no longer be given puberty blockers, NHS England has said, adding that there was insufficient evidence about...
FDA flags J&J, Bristol’s CAR-T therapies
US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) staff have expressed concern about Johnson & Johnson’s and Bristol Myers Squibb’s cell therapies, saying it is unclear whether...
WHO guidance aims to cut medicine harm
The World Health Organisation (WHO), which has launched new guidance aimed at reducing avoidable medicine harm, says one in 20 patients experience avoidable side...
FDA approves expanded use of liver disease drug
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the expanded use of Mirum Pharmaceuticals’ medication, Livmarli, to treat itching caused by a liver disorder...
Unpaid phone bills leave Gauteng hospitals on hold
The Gauteng Department of Health said 11 hospitals were still unreachable because of disputes with Telkom but that it had reduced its bills “significantly”...
Mediclinic cleared of billing manipulation
An independent investigation has cleared Mediclinic of intentionally manipulating billing, after allegations – by someone claiming to be a former Mediclinic employee – were...
Flu outbreak closes Free State schools
Two schools in the Free State have been shut down for a week after more than 100 pupils contracted influenza B and human rhinovirus.
The...
Global study to determine why black people have worse cancers
A global five-year, multimillion-pound investigation has been launched into why black people are more likely to develop more aggressive forms of prostate, breast and pancreatic...
Benzene in acne treatments linked to cancer
Acne treatments have joined the list of common consumer products – like hand sanitisers, sunscreens and dry shampoos – that contain high levels of...
Another delay for Alzheimer’s drug as FDA sets up review panel
The FDA has delayed its decision on Eli Lilly’s highly anticipated Alzheimer’s drug donanemab and plans to convene an advisory committee to review it...
UK review calls for action on ‘biased’ medical devices
British experts have joined what’s growing into a global call for action on medical devices that are prone to unfair biases, including blood oxygen...
Large study shows ALS drug failures
The maker of a much-debated drug for Lou Gehrig’s disease said last week that its therapy had failed to help patients in a large...
Global quest to pinpoint cause of early-onset cancers
Something in the environment or our lifestyles seems to be causing a rise in early-onset cancers, which is concerning scientists worldwide. Now, a study...
World anti-doping body suspends Africa’s only testing lab
The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) formally suspended the accreditation of the SA Doping Control Laboratory in Bloemfontein – the only such facility in Africa...
Global child mortality drops, but preventable deaths still high
Although the number of children globally who died before their fifth birthday dropped to a record low of 4.9m in 2022, that still represents...
Pietermaritzburg pharmacist murdered
A well-known Pietermaritzburg pharmacist was found murdered next to his bullet-riddled car last Thursday night, police said.
The 72-year-old from DuziMed Medicine Depot had multiple...
Alabama passes IVF immunity Bill
An Alabama, US, governor signed a Bill last week that will protect providers and patients – doing in vitro fertilisation – from legal liability...
Rise in psittacosis cases in Europe
The World Health Organisation has issued an outbreak notice after reports from five European countries of an unexpected rise in infections involving psittacosis, a...
Anti-vaxxers failed in bid to stop Covid vaccinations
An application by three non-profit companies to halt the government’s distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine was slammed as “manifestly unfair”, fatally defective, and dismissed...
New Omicron sub-variant detected in SA
The SA National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) has detected a strain of SARS-CoV-2 with more than 30 changes in its spike protein compared...
UK reviews asthma drug after traumatic side effects in children
Activists are demanding stricter controls and more prominent warnings on the commonly prescribed asthma and allergy drug montelukast, which has seen children as young...
RSV jab may boost Guillain-Barré risk, US experts warn
American health authorities have warned that vaccines for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) might have caused a few cases of the rare neurological condition Guillain-Barré...