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News Update
Indian court orders handwriting lessons for doctors
Jokes around the notoriously bad handwriting of doctors are common worldwide, but the latest order emphasising the importance of clear handwriting was in India,...
Anti-doping agency bans non-diagnostic carbon monoxide in sport
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) will add the non-diagnostic use of carbon monoxide to its prohibited methods list from next year, reports Reuters.
The gas...
Vaccines averted 17m deaths in five years, WHO reports
Vaccinations saved the lives of around 17m people between 2021 and 2024, but according to the WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on...
CDC flags surge of infections from drug-resistant bacteria
Health officials in the United States have warned that infections from dangerous bacteria, which are resistant to some of the strongest antibiotics available, have...
US ‘pregnancy crimes’ escalate with hundreds of women charged
More than 400 American women have been charged with pregnancy-related crimes in the first two years since the US Supreme Court’s controversial overturning of...
KZN doctor, nurses nabbed in drunk driving blitz
A doctor and three nurses were among 66 motorists arrested on the weekend in Port Shepstone, KwaZulu-Natal, for drunk driving, drawing condemnation from Transport...
Health officials central to R2bn Tembisa looting spree
Government officials, from high ranking managers to junior officials, all acted together to fleece a staggering R2bn from the Tembisa Hospital in a web...
Murder charge against Operation Dudula after baby’s death
The EFF in Gauteng has opened a criminal case against the Operation Dudula movement, accusing it of inciting violence and unlawfully targeting foreign nationals in...
New US-first health strategy sidelines South Africa
Future health aid to South Africa from the US may be in jeopardy after the Trump administration released a new “America first” global health...
Suspension for hospital cleaner ‘bust’ with bag of placentas
The Mpumalanga Department of Health has suspended a 39-year-old cleaner from Lydenburg Hospital after she was arrested for being found in possession of human placentas,...
Keloid weighing 3.5kg removed for Limpopo man
Surgeons have successfully removed a massive and disfiguring keloid growth from the neck of a Limpopo man who has been living with the pain...
US panel stops advising Covid jab for adults
There was much flip-flopping of decisions and reversals of conclusions last week during two days of meetings of the US vaccine advisory committee, which...
Gates urges more government action, pledges R15bn
The Gates Foundation will give $912m to the Global Fund to Fight Aids, TB and Malaria, philanthropist Bill Gates announced this week as he urged...
Kennedy clamps down on organ harvesting groups after dodgy cases
Recently publicised cases in the United States relating to shady organ procurement processes – and cases of still-living, neurologically active patients almost having their...
Time for SA to stand on its own, Aids experts agree
Healthcare and Aids activists agreed that it was time to face up to the reality of the US funding cuts – and its enormous...
Call for 'war room' action as Eastern Cape children die of hunger
The deaths of 70 Eastern Cape children in the first six months of this year have been linked to severe acute malnutrition, which the...
Millions spent on guarding abandoned hospital
A derelict and vandalised hospital that has stood empty for nearly 30 years is costing the Gauteng Department of Health R750 000 per annum...
Concerns grow over lenacapavir price transparency
South Africa may be able to start rolling out the twice-yearly anti-HIV drug lenacapavir (LEN) in January 2026 – three months earlier than planned...
Calls for urgent health reform at inaugural Ombud conference
Lives are being lost, and more placed at risk as legal bickering and challenges continue around the NHI Act, but, says Netcare Group CEO...
Probe after fire engulfs SA’s largest medical waste plant
Biohazard concerns and questions about nearby communities’ health and safety have been raised after a massive blaze that gutted South Africa’s largest medical waste...
Council warns against fraudulent nurse certification
The South African Nursing Council (SANC) has issued an urgent warning to employers, nurses and the public regarding fake SANC Registration Certificates, Annual Practising...
Boats, Bentleys and buildings seized in Tembisa probe asset haul
The probe into the web of corruption linked to Tembisa Hospital, triggered by whistleblower Babita Deokaran, is showing results, with the National Prosecuting Authority...
More children obese than underweight – Unicef
Unicef has warned governments to protect children’s diets from unhealthy ingredients and to stop the ultra-processed food industry from interfering in policy decisions –...
Court rejects Mkhize's delay bid in Digital Vibes case
Former Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize was unsuccessful last week in his bid to delay the Special Investigating Unit’s (SIU) case pending his High...
Suspended nurse claims victimisation for reporting abuse
A Gauteng nurse, who previously accused Clicks Pharmacy’s management of ill-treating her for reporting sexual harassment, has been suspended for breaching company ethics by...
WHO ends mpox public health emergency, Africa CDC extends it
The World Health Organisation (WHO) had ended the public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) for mpox outbreaks in Africa, reports CIDRAP, but the...
Nigerian doctors down tools over pay, welfare issues
Frontline doctors in Nigeria's public hospitals began a five-day strike last Friday over unpaid allowances and unresolved welfare concerns, their union said.
Kazeem Odumbaku, secretary...
Ebola vaccination campaign kicks off in southern DRC
Vaccination for people exposed to the Ebola virus and frontline health workers has begun in southern Kasai province, in the Democratic Republic of Congo,...
Botswana resolves medical supplies crisis
The Botswana Government says progress has been made in getting medicines to various parts of the country – this after President Duma Boko’s declaration...
Lenacapavir to be rolled out via Pepfar to selected countries
The news that the US Government has made a pre-market commitment to purchase the twice-yearly highly effective injectible drug lenacapavir from Gilead Sciences for...
Aspen banks on Mounjaro as workers face the chop
Aspen Pharmacare, South Africa’s largest pharmaceutical company, is awaiting regulatory approval to roll out diabetic drug Mounjaro for weight loss, but the bad news is...
Gauteng Health owes R5.1bn to suppliers
Thousands of businesses providing services to the Gauteng Department of Health are in a precarious position, with hundreds of jobs at risk after the department’s...
SADAG SOS for financial aid
The South African Depression and Anxiety Group’s (SADAG) vital crisis helpline, which assists thousands of people struggling with mental health issues, needs R180 000...
Groote Schuur appeals for R100m to open new centre
Groote Schuur Hospital, home to one of the busiest emergency centres in the Western Cape, desperately needs R100m in donations to help equip and...
Free State doctor, grandson charged with murder for farm shooting
Dr Koos Troskie (80), who with his teenaged grandson has been accused of killing and burying a man in a shallow grave in Kroonstad...
Emergency services desperate as shortages cripple sector
South African lives are being lost – and thousands more put at risk – as the dire shortage of ambulances and paramedics continues to...
Hard reality of Trump’s aid cuts in east Africa – 100 days later
Aid cuts in east Africa have resulted in some babies being born with HIV because mothers could not get medication, a rise in life-threatening infections, and...
New tests for 55 000 UK diabetes patients after diagnostic error
At least 55 000 patients in England will be needing further blood tests after errors made by machines used to diagnose diabetes, a BBC...
GLP-1 drugs now on WHO’s essential medicines list
GLP-1 drugs to treat diabetes as well as treatments for cystic fibrosis and cancer have been added to the World Health Organisation’s essential medicines...
FDA approves J&J’s non-surgical bladder cancer treatment
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved Johnson & Johnson’s drug delivery system for a type of bladder cancer, offering a potential surgery-free option...