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News Update
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New Zealand has repealed what would have been a world-first law banning tobacco sales for future generations, the government said, even while researchers and...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,...
Health department flags ‘charcoal’ social media posts
Fake social media posts and a voice note urging South Africans to use an unregistered activated charcoal product to prevent apparent Covid-19 vaccine deaths...
Man chains himself to fence over unpaid Northern Cape Health invoice
After a six-month wait for a payment of more than half a million rands, a fed-up sales consultant chained himself to a fence outside...
Neuralink’s first human patient controls computer mouse via thought
The first human patient implanted with a brain-chip from Neuralink is able to control a computer mouse using its thoughts, according to the start-up’s...
Gauteng Health flags rise in STI infections
There’s been an increase in sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV infections across Gauteng, according to the provincial Department of Health, which noted that...
Patient-led cancer registry launched in SA
There have been significant gaps in data when it comes to understanding South Africa’s cancer burden, but improvements are on the horizon, with an...
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...