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News Update
Robbers lock nurse, guard in clinic dispensary overnight
The Eastern Cape Department of Health, which has budgeted R78m for security upgrades in its facilities, has already had several robberies this year, the...
Prescription drugs, medical waste found on Wild Coast beaches
Rural communities cleaning up litter along the Eastern Cape Wild Coast have discovered dozens of plastic canisters containing expired or unused prescription drugs –...
More peanut butter recalled amid toxins warning
More peanut butter brands have been withdrawn from shelves at Pick n Pay, alongside those sold at Dischem, Clicks, Faithful to Nature and other...
CDC updates privacy guidelines for HIV sample tracking
Guidelines relating to a controversial practice used by American state and local health departments to curb HIV infections were updated last week by the...
Rare case of plague confirmed in US
A rare case of human plague was confirmed in a small rural county in Oregon, USA, last week, marking the first reported case in...
ADHD drug shortage continues in USA
More than a year after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a shortage of the ADHD medication Adderall, doctors and patients say...
Eye drops from India linked to deaths, blindness
The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released the details of its investigation into the source of a multi-state outbreak of...
US drug companies defend high prices at Senate meeting
In an escalating verbal battle, the CEOs of three major pharmaceutical companies defended the high prices of their drugs in front of the US...
Mixed views on new smoking laws
There was varied and contrasting public feedback from the Cape last Sunday during the Portfolio Committee on Health’s public hearing process for the Tobacco Products...
Nigerian nurses probed for massive NHS qualifications fraud
British authorities are investigating a scam involving more than 700 NHS staff who used proxies to pass a key test in Nigeria that enabled...
WHO antimicrobials list ‘for humans only’
The WHO has released a list of 21 antimicrobials earmarked as “authorised for use in humans only” – a first for the organisation in its efforts...
Western Cape experts appeal for end to health budget cuts
An open letter signed by more than 16 academic heads of departments and nearly 1 000 senior clinicians, nursing leaders and health workers in...
SA cancer cases climb as unequal treatment causes ‘needless deaths’
As the World Health Organisation predicts that global cancer rates are likely to soar by 77% by 2050, another global report says that black...
SA in five-country trials for drug-resistant TB treatment
South Africans will feature among 300 participants in five-country phase 2 clinical trials for a new drug-resistant, drug-sensitive TB treatment – launched by the...
Soweto trio arrested for murder of doctor
Police in Mbombela have arrested three men for the murder of Mediclinic Nelspruit’s Dr Nicholas Procter (40) who had recently been nominated for the...
Doctors take strain from staff shortages
Staff shortages in South Africa pose a “significant threat” to patient safety, according to 91% of doctors who responded to a recent survey, with...
Gauteng Health denies dragging heels on cancer tender
The Gauteng Department of Health has dismissed suggestions that it was deliberately delaying awarding a tender for the outsourcing of oncology radiation services for...
Toe removal surgery ends in nightmare full leg amputation
A diabetic domestic worker (59) who was admitted to Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital for a toe removal, is now wheelchair bound and unemployed after...
Public healthcare facilities lag in security compliance
Security compliance at clinics and district hospitals countrywide sits at only 58%, the Office for Healthcare Standards Compliance (OHSC) says.
OHSC CEO Dr Siphiwe Mndaweni...
Hearing loss concern for SA miners
Noise-induced hearing loss has displaced tuberculosis (TB) and silicosis as the top priority health threat in the South African mining industry, an industry seminar...
Drastic surge in medical gap cover
The medical aid industry is struggling to contain inflation, say experts, with insurance underwriters describing regular individual gap payouts to cover medical aid shortfalls...
Updated WHO Covid guidelines slammed
While hospitals in at least four American states have reinstated mask mandates amid a rise in cases of Covid-19, seasonal flu and other respiratory...
UK pharmacists to treat for common ailments, cutting out GPs
Under changes to pharmacy regulations in England, customers can now get treatment for seven common conditions without needing to see doctors, freeing up 10m...
Patient beaten to death by fellow psychiatric patient
A 36-year-old patient at Elizabeth Donkin Psychiatric Hospital in Gqeberha was smashed into a wall and badly beaten, later dying in hospital, after a...
Pick n Pay recalls three peanut butter brands
Pick n Pay has recalled No Name Smooth Peanut Butter, Eden Smooth Peanut Butter and Eden Crunch Peanut Butter over possible health risks, with...
Eastern Cape Health owes security firm R4m
A security company in Nelson Mandela Bay has terminated its contract a month early with the Eastern Cape Health Department because it is owed...
China reports first known death from H3N2-H10N5 flu co-infection
In what is possibly the first known case in a human, a Chinese woman who died in November was co-infected with H3N2 seasonal flu...
Gauteng Health still mum on oncology tender
Cancer Alliance has again sounded the alarm over the Gauteng Department of Health’s lack of communication about the outcome of a key tender for...
CT scanner disaster at major hospital
One of the country’s biggest public hospitals has been operating with just one back-up CT scanner, resulting in patients having treatment delayed, receiving inadequate...
Biogen halts sales, development of controversial Alzheimer’s drug
Biogen is to end development and commercialisation of its Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm, which was approved against outside experts’ advice in mid-2021 and caused congressional...
FDA adds compulsory boxed warning for CAR-T therapy
Several pharmaceutical companies have been instructed by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to add a boxed warning – the agency’s strongest safety label...
Unions deny that young doctors are refusing rural jobs
The national Health Department, which last week said young doctors choose to reject rural placements, has been accused of propaganda by the Health and...
Not just NHI causing SA doctors to flee
Numerous long-standing issues, including dysfunctional equipment, poor working conditions, and high patient numbers – and not just the National Health Insurance Bill – are...
Updated sepsis guidelines in UK
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), the health watchdog in England, has issued updated guidance recommending that people who are severely...
UK firm recalls cough medicines from US
Eight batches of cough syrup in the United States have been recalled by British healthcare company Haleon, which has cited microbial contamination and risk...
New York health advisory lists social media an environmental toxin
New York City is the first city to issue an advisory officially designating social media as an environmental toxin.
Last week its Department of Health...
Philips stops sales of breathing devices after FDA settlement
Philips Respironics is to halt sales of all of its breathing machines in the United States after reaching a settlement with the Food and...
UK to ban disposable vapes
The British Government is moving to ban disposable vapes as part of plans to tackle the rising number of young people adopting the habit,...
UHC hampered by lack of funds staff, globally
While most member states of the World Health Organisation support universal health coverage, a discussion and report by the agency’s board last week highlighted...
WHO says Covid-19 deaths three times higher than reported
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has expressed concern about the handling of Covid-19 worldwide, saying not enough people are being vaccinated or taking adequate...