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News Update
Covid-19 originated in US, claims China
China has restated its case that Covid-19 may have originated in the United States, in a white paper on its pandemic response released last...
Woman brain-dead after cryotherapy session goes wrong
A French woman who was injured during a fatal cryotherapy session at a gym – that had earlier, in the same week, claimed the...
Sinkhole closes clinic indefinitely
Khutsong West Clinic, west of Johannesburg, closed indefinitely last week amid concerns over a massive sinkhole nearby.
“The facility will be closed indefinitely. The decision...
US diabetes deaths at lowest levels in years – CDC
Diabetes deaths in America have fallen to some of the lowest rates in years, according to preliminary figures from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention,...
Patients suffer as hospitals battle bed shortages, power and water cuts
Dire conditions at several state hospitals came under the spotlight this week with reports of heavily pregnant women being made to sleep on the...
Radiology firm probed for alleged BEE fronting
A Cape Town radiology firm is facing allegations of “fronting” after an investigation launched by the Broad-Based BEE (B-BBEE) Commission, and the firm’s black...
North West private hospital frustrated by licence renewal delay
A 295-bed private hospital in the North West, which its owners say has been patient-ready for five years, potentially providing jobs to 50 people,...
Hospital staff under fire for outdoor cooking during outage
KZN Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane has called for disciplinary action against staff at Pietermaritzburg’s Northdale Hospital after a video of them cooking over a...
WHO, Unicef target ‘devious’ baby formula marketing in SA
The WHO and the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) have launched a “Babies Before Bottom Lines” campaign aimed at the “predatory and pervasive” digital...
Measles adds to Ugandan mpox crisis as death toll passes 5 400
The cumulative number of confirmed mpox cases in Uganda has hit 5 431, with 40 deaths reported since the outbreak was declared nine months...
Pacemaker to control BP gets FDA nod
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given Breakthrough Device Designation to Orchestra BioMed for its atrioventricular interval modulation (AVIM) therapy for patients...
US man pleads not guilty to shooting of Big Pharma boss
The US man accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson late last year appeared in a Manhattan federal court on Friday where he pleaded...
FDA suggests swopping with beet juice, flagging ADHD risk
The US Food & Drug Administration, which has announced it will phase out petroleum-based food dyes in the coming months, says American children “have...
US detains Russian-born Harvard scientist
A ground-breaking microscope at Harvard Medical School could lead to breakthroughs in cancer detection and research into longevity. But the Russian-born scientist who developed...
Replacement rabies jab during SA shortage
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) has confirmed that a new rabies vaccine – Chirorab – is available in South Africa as a...
Europe failing in fight against HIV, TB and STIs
Regional health authorities have warned that many countries in Europe will miss a target to combat HIV, TB, hepatitis, and sexually transmitted infections (STIs)...
Whooping cough makes a comeback in the US
Whooping cough (pertussis) cases in the United States were nearly 16 times higher in 2024 than during the Covid-19 pandemic low in 2021, warn...
Possible arson to be probed in Tembisa hospital fires
The Gauteng Government and national MPs have not ruled out arson as a possible reason for the fires at Tembisa Provincial Tertiary Hospital, which...
UK radiological group calls for male nurses to do mammograms
Male health workers should be allowed to perform breast screening examinations to help relieve staff shortages, says Britain’s Society of Radiographers (SoR), which has...
Hospital sued for refusing liver transplant for Zimbabwean child
An urgent High Court application due to be heard in Johannesburg soon may be too late to save the life of desperately ill Vanessa...
No specific directive for AI to replace jobs, says Mediclinic
Mediclinic has issued a response to last week’s media reports about job cuts linked to the group’s artificial intelligence strategy, saying while AI initiatives...
Durban clerk arrested for practising medicine from dead GP’s office
A 52-year-old Bellair man arrested and charged with practising as a medical doctor without qualifications – for more than five years – was released...
Two fires in three days at Tembisa Hospital
Fire disrupted services at Tembisa Provincial Tertiary Hospital on Wednesday after flames engulfed the Outpatient Department (OPD) – next to the Accident and Emergency...
Aspen warns of losses due to contract dispute
Aspen Pharmacare has warned that profits could be affected by a contract dispute, which is likely to shave off several billion from its manufacturing...
Trump officially backs Wuhan lab leak theory
The Trump administration has replaced the government’s main portal for information about Covid with a new website arguing that the coronavirus leaked from a...
Patient charged for assaulting nurse
A Limpopo patient has been arrested and charged with assaulting a nurse at Malamulele Hospital after admission, while a second man goes on trial...
Moderna gets $176m to develop pandemic flu jab
The US has announced it will pay Moderna $176m to accelerate development of a pandemic influenza vaccine that could treat bird flu in people,...
NHS approves robotic surgery for England
State-of-the-art robotic systems approved for use on the NHS could transform treatment for thousands of people across England, say health authorities, after the technology was...
FDA approves trial of pig livers for dialysis-like treatment for liver failure
Researchers will soon test whether livers from a gene-edited pig could treat liver failure patients – by temporarily filtering their blood so their own...
Trump’s aspirin usage queried by experts
The issue of aspirin for people who have never had a heart attack has been highlighted again after findings from President Donald Trump’s annual...
US NIH to probe cause of autism
US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr says environmental factors are contributing to autism’s rising prevalence, and that in assessing potential causes of the...
Indian firm recalls two dozen medications sold to US patients
FDA inspectors found serious problems at a Glenmark Pharmaceuticals factory in India that manufactured two dozen recalled drugs, while another medication made there has...
Be pro-active as cyber thugs target global healthcare sector
At one time, cyber criminals held off from attacking the world’s healthcare institutions for reasons of ethics, but no longer, says Shayimamba Conco, Cyber...
Another 150 000 HIV infections possible by 2028 from aid cuts
A modelling study commissioned by the National Department of Health into the impact of the Pepfar funding cuts has revealed that this could result...
Health Department plans six new academic hospitals for SA
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi says the public health sector will be boosted, in anticipation of the NHI roll-out, with new clinics and half a...
Minister scathing of African leaders seeking treatment abroad
Not for the first time, Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has blasted heads of state who fly to other countries when they need medical...
Gauteng Health buckles under migrant patient overload
Migrant care is exerting huge pressure on the Gauteng Department of Health and the system is completely overwhelmed, Ministers have admitted, yet public hospitals...
WHO members agree on 'historic' pandemic pact
Members of the World Health Organisation reached a landmark agreement yesterday on how to learn from Covid-19, which killed millions of people in 2020-22,...
Global kidneys-for-cash trafficking network exposed
Desperation is driving illicit deals and trades involving cash for kidneys, with global syndicates stretching from Kenya to Germany and involving billions of dollars,...
Drug-resistant infections killed 3m children worldwide
A landmark study presented this week at the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) in Vienna has revealed that more than...