HomeNews Update
News Update
Australia lifts restrictions on abortion pill
Under new regulations, Australian doctors and nurses will be allowed to prescribe the pregnancy termination pill and all pharmacists permitted to stock it, the...
Income tax hike and payroll tax proposed for NHI funding
A recently circulated fact sheet on funding for the National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme suggests that both a payroll tax and a surcharge on...
New guidelines and ARVs for SA children with HIV
Several sessions at the recent 11th SA AIDS conference held in Durban highlighted the worrying fact that key HIV numbers – like treatment coverage –...
Probe launched after Limpopo Health coal tender raises red flags
The Limpopo Department of Health is making headlines again, this time over a coal supply tender for 14 hospitals – many of which do...
Public-private effort saves six-year-old heart patient
Intricate, lifesaving heart surgery at Netcare Sunninghill Hospital has given a a new lease on life to a six-year-old girl, who would have had...
Unsafe water and sanitation to blame for 7 000 deaths in South Africa – WHO report
A study released by the World Health Organisation (WHO) shows that unsafe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene practises in South Africa were responsible for...
MEC orders probe after nurse refuses to help sick child
A Limpopo nurse’s refusal to attend to a sick child landed her in hot water, with Health MEC Phophi Ramathuba launching an investigation after...
US approves blood test to predict pre-eclampsia in pregnancy
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a blood test that can identify pregnant women who are at imminent risk of developing...
New hypertension guidelines released by ESH
The European Society of Hypertension (ESH) has released refreshed guidelines for the management of hypertension, which have been endorsed by the European Renal Association...
North West state hospital performs first atrial septal defect surgery
A North West public hospital has just performed its first-ever atrial septal defect (ASD) surgery, the lifesaving procedure taking the team of specialists less...
Tembisa staff linked to R1bn fraud still at work
Six months after their roles in the massive Tembisa Hospital tender scandal were identified by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU), nine senior staff who...
Decline in SA cholera cases
While there has been a significant decline in cholera infections in the past week, the national Health Department says the number of people who...
State’s procurement decisions ‘illogical’: Aspen boss
‘Nonsensical’ decisions by the government on medication procurement are hampering the economy and increasing South Africa’s trade deficit in pharmaceuticals, said Stavros Nicolaou, Aspen...
Most interns, junior doctors finally placed
More than 1 100 medical interns and junior doctors have finally been placed for the medical Internship and Community Service Programme (ICSP) – just...
Gavi green-lights new jab in global fight against polio
The governing board of Gavi, the international organisation that provides vaccines to developing countries, had added a new shot to its roster that could help...
650 000 UK hospital cancellations as NHS strike bites
Mass National Health Service (NHS) strikes have resulted in 650 000 hospital cancellations and appointment postponements so far, with worse to come as Britain braces...
Indian firm allegedly used industrial-grade ingredient in toxic cough syrups
Marion Biotech, the Indian manufacturer of cough syrups that Uzbekistan said last year had poisoned 19 children, had allegedly used a toxic industrial-grade ingredient,...
DA slams wasted R115m spent on unfinished hospital wards
A whopping R115m spent on building new hospital wards at Kopanong Hospital in Vereeniging during the pandemic – a project which was never completed...
Gang arrested after Carolina Hospital attack
Four people have been arrested after assaulting and robbing staff at Carolina Provincial Hospital in Mpumalanga earlier this month, after which they ransacked the...
Paramedics suspended for refusing to carry patient up stairs
Two KwaZulu-Natal paramedics have been suspended after apparently refusing to walk down a stairway to reach a patient in Umlazi, ordering family to bring...
Gauteng Health opts for multiple suppliers to address food shortages
A multi-vendor approach will be introduced by Gauteng Health to acquire food for healthcare institutions after reported shortages and inconsistent supply, it said last...
Challenges in developing 'vital' HIV vaccine
The genetic diversity of the HIV virus is greater than any other pathogen, and constructing an effective vaccine is vital, despite its scientific challenges,...
How Mpumalanga Health is addressing clinic challenges
The provincial Health Department in Mpumalanga has responded to the third report from community-based clinic monitoring group Ritshidze on public health facilities in the...
Funerals and social gatherings linked to cholera
The national Department of Health says most of the country’s positive cholera cases and deaths have been linked to social gatherings and funerals.
The latest...
Spate of attacks at Mpumalanga, Eastern Cape facilities
Criminals are taking advantage of soft targets like clinics to terrorise staff and patients and brazenly attacking and robbing them, notes MedicalBrief, with both...
'Militant' union to appeal court's administration order
The Health and Allied Workers Indaba Trade Union (Haitu) has filed an application for leave to appeal the Labour Court’s order granting the Department...
First person diagnosed with autism dies in the US
The Mississippi man known as “Case 1”, the first person to be diagnosed with autism and who was known as a fiercely independent savant,...
US panel recommends regular anxiety tests for under-65s
As America confronts a massive mental health crisis, the US Preventive Services Task Force has recommended that everyone under 65 should be regularly screened...
UK offers free lung screening for ex-smokers in early detection drive
In efforts to increase earlier detection and treatment of lung cancer, NHS England is offering free lung screening for all middle-aged people who have...
Prepare for more pandemics in the future, experts warn
The world needs to prepare for more pandemics, global health experts warned this week, warning that Covid-19 may have subsided but it will return.
They...
900 Northern Cape teenagers pregnant every three months
The numbers of adolescents giving birth in the Northern Cape have rocketed, with the Education Department saying 900 pupils in the 10-19-year-old age group...
Extended shelf-life may not make dent in R3.9bn vaccine stockpile
South Africa is sitting with a massive stockpile of 21m Johnson & Johnson Covid doses and nearly 8m Pfizer dozes – worth a combined...
New deadline for comment on vape, smoking laws
The Portfolio Committee on Health has announced that public consultation on the new Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Control Bill will now end...
Contraception shortage in Gauteng
South Africa has long been experiencing a stock-out of contraceptives, with Gauteng in particular being short of 29 000 long-acting contraceptive implants in the...
Rats and cockroaches infest Polokwane Hospital
An infestation of rodents and cockroaches has patients at Polokwane Provincial Hospital in Limpopo – and their families – worried about their exposure to hospital-acquired...
Patients, staff, traumatised after hospital robbery
Police will be patrolling Carolina Provincial Hospital in Mpumalanga every hour, especially on weekends, after a gang of armed men stormed into the casualty...
Health Department director charged with corruption in Digital Vibes case
Popo Maja, senior director of communications at the national Department of Health, appeared in court yesterday on corruption charges related to the more than...
Covid-19 vaccines worth nearly R4bn go to waste – Phaahla
More than 28m vaccine doses, valued at more than R3.8bn, are due to go to waste, according to Health Minister Joe Phaahla, who also...
TB fight set back more than a decade because of Covid
The Covid pandemic has set back the fight against TB by about 12 years and led to huge reversals in the decline of cases,...
Junior doctors still unplaced for community service
Hundreds of junior doctors in Gauteng have still not been given placements for their community service programme, which is due to start on 1...