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News Update
Abuse, humiliation rife in state health facilities – Ritshidze report
A lack of privacy, scarcity of lubricants and key population groups allegedly being denied antiretrovirals (ARVs) are some of the issues highlighted in the...
France first to make abortion a constitutional right
In a groundbreaking decision, France has enshrined the right to abortion in its Constitution, a world first welcomed by women’s rights groups as historic...
FDA allows ‘yoghurt can lower diabetes risk’ claim
Yoghurt makers are now permitted to claim that their products can reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, says the US Food and Drug...
Alzheimer’s drug beset by various challenges
Neurologists are voicing “frustration” at core elements of the Alzheimer's drug Leqembi, produced by Eisai and Biogen and which was supposed to be the...
Scientists' research could spark next pandemic, new report warns
Scientists are urging better regulation of experiments that could spark pandemics, arguing that a “research-related incident” may have caused the Covid-19 pandemic.
Dr Filippa Lentzos,...
KZN pink eye cases surge
The KwaZulu-Natal Health Department has warned of an outbreak of conjunctivitis, particularly in eThekwini, with more than 1 000 cases reported between 29 February...
Labels from dumped medical waste ‘deliberately removed’
Labels and other identifiers, like batch numbers, had been “deliberately removed” from the mounds of medical waste recently found dumped along the Eastern Cape’s...
SA company gears up to produce vaginal ring
That a Johannesburg company – Kiara Health – will start manufacturing affordable and flexible silicone rings to protect women from HIV is a crucial...
Bodycams for NHS nurses after surge in patient abuse
A London NHS trust is giving its nurses body-worn cameras and asking the public to be kinder to its healthcare staff, after violence and...
SA doctors earn 40 times more than African counterparts
Doctors working in South Africa’s state clinics and hospitals are heavily underpaid, according to the South African Medical Association (SAMA) – yet they earn...
Murdered Dobsonville GP had been attacked before
A well-known Dobsonville doctor, who was fatally shot in a robbery at his practice in Soweto last weekend, had continued to serve his community...
Asthma drug sanctioned for serious food allergies
Food allergies for products like milk, eggs, walnuts and peanuts could be more easily tolerated with a drug newly approved by the US Food...
Theatre lists cut as Western Cape hospital battle slashed budgets
The impact of national budget cuts on services has been flagged by the Western Cape’s tertiary hospitals, which have highlighted the restriction on filling...
Health budget brings NHI a step closer
In his budget speech last week, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said R848bn has been set aside for the public health system over the medium...
Jobless healthcare workers march to Union Buildings
Hundreds of fed-up, unemployed healthcare workers marched to the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Monday, demanding jobs, no national budget cuts in the Health...
Health Department considers six-month ARV supplies to meet targets
South Africa is behind target on efforts to ensure 95% of people with HIV are on sustained treatment, and in an attempt to remedy...
SA urges Pepfar to buy more African HIV/Aids drugs
South African pharmaceutical companies have urged the US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar) to shift 2m patients to made-in-Africa HIV/Aids medicines by...
Gauteng Health forensic backlog dates back to 2007
Gauteng has a backlog of 14 317 toxicology cases and 7 245 histopathology cases, dating back to 2007, the Forensic Medical Services (FMS) indaba...
FDA approves first cell therapy for metastatic melanoma
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved lifileucel (Amtagvi, Iovance Biotherapeutics) for the treatment of certain adults with unresectable or metastatic melanoma, marking the first approval...
Safety update on medicines containing pseudoephedrine
Britain’s MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency) has reviewed the latest evidence relating to the very rare risk of side effects associated with...
Gauteng hospital phone lines cut over payment dispute
Telephone lines at some Gauteng hospitals have been down for several weeks, allegedly because the provincial Health Department had not paid its bills, and...
Curbing antibiotic use reduces AMR – report
A decline in antibiotic-resistant bacteria has been observed in European countries that have curbed the use of antibiotics in both animals and humans, according...
Bogus doctor arrested for attempted bribe at Bara
A woman was due to appear in court this week after posing as a doctor and attempting to solicit a bribe from a patient...
Free State Health suspends four linked to ghost worker scam
The Hawks have launched an investigation after the Free State Department of Health’s suspension this month of four officials linked to “ghost worker” allegations.
Department...
Zimbabwe proposes new medical research Bill
Zimbabwe has begun drafting new medical research legislation to initiate a national health research fund, among other priorities, in a reform process researchers hope...
New Zealand dumps stringent world-first tobacco ban
New Zealand has repealed what would have been a world-first law banning tobacco sales for future generations, the government said, even while researchers and...
Canadian community sues after ‘secret medical experiment’
A class action lawsuit has been launched by an indigenous group in Canada alleging they were subjected to a secret medical experiment in 2017...
No new funding for NHI in yesterday's Budget
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has made no new provisions for the National Health Insurance in yesterday's Budget speech, but he made it clear government...
Gauteng plan to buy private hospitals for NHI 'vague'
Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi announced, during his State of the Province Address this week, that the province would be buying 18 private hospitals “to...
Doctors earning 13% less than they should, says SAMA
The SA Medical Association (SAMA) says that doctors are still being paid salaries equivalent to 2015 levels, and earning 13% less than they should,...
Pay back the money, tribunal orders R113m PPE supplier
Private company LNG has been ordered to return the profit earned from a R113.2m PPE contract awarded by the Gauteng Department of Health during...
Nurses strike over unpaid overtime
Nurses at the Eastern Cape’s Dora Nginza Hospital launched a go-slow protest last Wednesday saying they had not received their December overtime pay –...
Genetics project recruits SA families with Parkinson’s
South Africans – who may have early symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD) in the family – are being recruited for a global genetics programme...
FDA’s plan to ban hair relaxer chemical 'far too late'
A dozen years after a federal agency classified formaldehyde as a human carcinogen, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is tentatively scheduled – in April...
Patient lays complaint after 'horror' Soweto hospital stay
A Gauteng woman is demanding accountability from a private hospital in Soweto after what she has described as three days of horror last month,...
US regulator probes role of supply chain middlemen in drug shortages
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have issued a request for information on the practices of...
Czech Republic latest state to ban synthetic cannabinoid
Several countries already prohibit or regulate the sale of semi-synthetic hexahydrocannabinol (HHC), with the Czech Republic becoming the latest to restrict its sale after...
More than half the world faces high measles risk – WHO
The World Health Organisation warned this week that more than half of the world’s countries will be at high or very high risk of...
WTO Trips talks failure 'a slap in the face'
Health justice activists have slammed the World Trade Organisation's failure to reach an agreement to waive intellectual property rights on Covid-19 tests and treatments...
Italy launches probe into its handling of pandemic
Italy, which was the first western country to report a Covid-19 outbreak and which had the second highest death toll in Europe, after Britain,...