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News Update
African self-reliance punted at key public health conference
The “Durban Promise”, the ambitious outcome document of the Conference of Public Health in Africa 2025 (CPHIA), will be on the menu when world leaders gather...
Surgeons remove 100 magnets from New Zealand teen’s gut
A team of New Zealand surgeons recently removed nearly 100 high-power magnets a 13-year-old boy had swallowed, and which had caused necrosis in sections...
Last Ebola patient discharged in Congo
The last Ebola patient in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was discharged a week ago, marking an important milestone in the efforts to...
Doctors, experts owed millions by Road Accident Fund
Millions are owed to doctors and other healthcare specialists, with bills stretching to a decade ago in some cases and others forced to retrench...
Hospital forced to close after R300m RAF debt
A refusal by the Road Accident Fund (RAF) to pay a private hospital for crash victims it treated led to spiralling debt and the...
Plunge in public healthcare services after Pepfar cuts
Nearly half of hundreds of public health facilities surveyed by the community-led monitoring group Ritshidze have been operating at a reduced capacity since the...
SA firms lose out on lenacapavir production
South African companies were excluded from Gilead Science’s voluntary licensing for the anti-HIV drug lenacapavir because those that were evaluated in 2024 did not...
Neurologist shortage not unique to South Africa – Motsoaledi
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has defended his department against accusations of healthcare system collapse, saying the global shortage of specialists was partly to blame...
Gauteng Health spends R20m on new clinic wall as old facility crumbles
Spending R20m on building only a wall at a yet-to-be-constructed clinic is “a reckless waste of taxpayers’ money by the Gauteng Department of Health,...
Medicines smuggling probe after ARVs found at bus crash site
An investigation has been launched after the discovery of dozens of packs of ARVs and prescription drugs amid the wreckage of a fatal bus...
Gqeberha's Livingstone Hospital still without CEO – seven years later
The Eastern Cape Department of Health says it is advertising the CEO post for Livingstone Tertiary Hospital for the third time – seven years...
Glenda Gray in UCT funding storm
Former president of the South African Medical Research Council and current University of Cape Town (UCT) council member Professor Glenda Gray has lodged a...
FDA flags burns, scarring from skin procedure
The US Food & Drug Administration has warned about the potential for serious injuries with radiofrequency (RF) microneedling for skin procedures, after a series...
Infant immunisations drop in Western Cape
The Western Cape Department of Health & Wellness has sounded an urgent alarm over a steep decline in infant vaccination coverage across the province,...
UFS awarded WHO grant for global traditional medicine platform
A major grant has been awarded to the African Medicines Innovations and Technology Development Platform (AMITD) at the University of the Free State (UFS) under...
SAHPRA and HPCSA sign collaborative agreement
The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) and the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) recently signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA)...
DA reports hospital copper theft to SIU
The DA has asked the Special Investigative Unit (SIU) to investigate the theft of a 100m long copper pipe from the Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe Hospital in Kimberley...
Namibia confirms first case of mpox
Namibia’s Ministry of Health and Social Services has confirmed the first case of mpox – in Swakopmund, reports The Namibian.
“Surveillance, contact tracing, and response...
Africa to get BioNTech mRNA vaccine site
Two EU bodies will fund BioNTech with up to $110m to help build its mRNA vaccine factory in Kigali, Rwanda, which is designed to locally supply...
WHO, EU to advance digital health in sub-Saharan Africa
A new agreement has been inked by the World Health Organisation and the European Union (EU) to support the digital transformation of health systems...
R2bn funding for South Africa as US backtracks on cuts
South Africa will receive R2bn over six months from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to sustain existing HIV and Aids...
Pharmacists allowed to dispense ARVs, appeal court rules
The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has dismissed, with costs, an appeal by a doctor’s organisation, the IPA Foundation, aimed at stopping specially trained...
SAHPRA grants Mounjaro jab approval for weight loss
Aspen Pharmacare has received approval from the SA Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) for the diabetes treatment drug Mounjaro (tirzepatide) as a chronic weight...
Health tender challenge exposes extent of deceit
Efforts by major players in the Gauteng tender scandals to plunder state resources knew no bounds, with well-planned ruses designed to extract money while...
R360m SAPS health contract to be re-advertised
National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola told Parliament’s ad hoc committee last week that he’d cancelled the R360m Medicare24 Tshwane District contract in April, after an internal...
Lifestyle diseases bring down SA life expectancy
Non-communicable diseases are reversing decades of progress in HIV/Aids treatment in South Africa, with statistics released this weekend showing that contrary to global trends,...
Doctor to cough up for dismissing staffer (72) on WhatsApp
A judge has ordered a KwaZulu-Natal doctor to compensate her former employee R120 000 for an age-related dismissal conducted via a WhatsApp message, reports...
Interdict bid against Operation Dudula dismissed over lack of urgency
The Human Rights Commission (HRC) has accused the government of failing to act against the vigilante groups that prevent non-nationals and undocumented individuals from...
Questions after NHLS audit procurement flaws flagged
Weak controls, expired contracts and irregular expenditure have yet again been linked to the Department of Health and its entities, according to the Auditor-General...
Rethink of ‘shaken baby’ diagnosis in death row father's case
A Texas court has issued a stay of execution for Robert Roberson, a man whose 2003 murder conviction has raised serious questions about the...
African babies take a lesson from US soldiers in malaria war
For years, the US military has treated uniforms with insecticide to repel mosquitoes and the malaria they can transmit – and American infectious disease...
Harvard liable for theft of body parts from morgue
A court in the United States has ruled that Harvard can be sued by families who had donated bodies of relatives to the university’s...
Indian firm to buy chunk of pharma giant Adcock
India-listed Natco Pharma has been given the green light to buy a significant stake in Adcock Ingram, with the South African company’s shareholders voting...
Dis-Chem changes boost investor confidence
A new phase of maturity is anticipated for Dis-Chem with its ongoing leadership transition, with experts predicting that the changes could help reignite investor...
Anti-Semitic Facebook posts gets surgeon struck off
An NHS surgeon who posted anti-Semitic comments online after the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza war has been struck off the roll, reports The Telegraph.
Dr...
SCA to hear BHF arguments in low-cost options appeal bid
The Board of Healthcare Funders (BHF) has welcomed a decision by the Supreme Court of Appeal that will allow it to continue its legal...
Unions demand lifestyle audits for all Tembisa staff
In the wake of the Tembisa Hospital corruption revelations, fed-up unions are demanding urgent lifestyle audits for all employees, and for all implicated staff...
SAMA suspends ties with Israeli counterpart
Healthcare Workers 4 Palestine-South Africa has welcomed a decision by the South African Medical Association (SAMA) to suspend ties with the Israeli Medical Association.
GroundUp...
Public outrage over Eastern Cape hospital's fees for file-opening
A government hospital in the Eastern Cape has ignited widespread outrage after reminding the public on its Facebook page that patients have to pay...
State hospitals 'window dressing' to fake readiness for NHI
In efforts to pass muster from authorities, and obtain certificates of compliance before the implementation of the National Health Insurance (NHI), government hospitals are...