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News Update
Experts warn against risky castor oil TikTok fad
The latest dangerous social media craze has TikTokkers rubbing castor oil into the eyes to promote eye health, but specialists warn that the risks...
‘Poison in every puff’ – Canada’s new cigarette warnings
In efforts to deter young people from smoking, and to encourage others to give up, from next year, Canada will become the first country...
Medicines price rise thumbs-up from Phaahla
Lobbying by South African pharmaceutical manufacturers has won them a second price
increase for private sector medicine sales this year, with Health Minister Dr Joe...
Priciest cancer drugs bumped off WHO’s medicines list
Several exorbitantly priced medicines, including some breast and lung cancer drugs, have been excluded from the updated Essentials Medicines List (EML) and Essential Medicines...
Hospital union to seek action after stockouts, no water for five years
Healthcare workers at Bethesda Hospital in the village of Ubombo, about four hours from Durban, have slammed conditions at the facility after enduring five...
Experts call for hepatitis B birth-dose vaccine
Despite one in 20 South Africans being infected with the hepatitis B virus – which causes about 820 000 deaths a year globally and...
Professor Glenda Gray to step down as SAMRC head
South African Medical Research Council president and chief executive Professor Glenda Gray is stepping down to take up a full-time scientific role after a...
Obesity rates behind new WHO guidelines on fat and carbs
Worldwide obesity has tripled since 1975, with, for example, more than 340m children and adolescents aged five to 19 being overweight or having obesity...
US agency launches ‘overdue’ long Covid clinical trials
The US National Institutes of Health is launching four clinical trials to test the safety and effectiveness of potential long Covid treatments, with seven...
Flood of responses to food labelling regulations
More than 12 000 submissions have been collected and submitted by health activists at the Community Media Trust and the Healthy Living Alliance (HEALA)...
Another Indian drugmaker linked to toxic cough syrups
Yet another Indian drugmaker has been linked to lethal cough syrups – and directed to stop operating – making it the fourth in the...
Australian Ministers urged to probe unsafe hospitals, inept bosses and bullying claims
The issue of maltreatment and neglect of mental health patients – and their facilities – is not just endemic to South Africa, it appears....
SA putting plans in place to cope with more pandemics, says Phaahla
Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla has, in reply to a parliamentary question, given the assurance that SA is initiating measures to protect the country...
DA calls for asbestos issues at Gauteng hospitals to be addressed
Eight hospital and six clinics in Gauteng – including Chris Hani Baragwanath and Tambo Memorial Hospital – have asbestos exposure issues, with which the...
Netcare CEO to retire next year
Long-serving Netcare CEO Richard Friedland will take early retirement from the end of September 2024, South Africa’s biggest network of private hospitals announced last...
Police use social media to bust kidney-selling ring
Police in Jakarta are investigating the illegal trade of human organs, involving police and immigration officers who were accused of helping traffickers send 122...
Task team to resolve Hillbrow mortuary backlog
With bodies piling up at Hillbrow mortuary, and hundreds of desperate families waiting weeks to claim and bury their loved ones’ bodies, Gauteng Health...
Bara’s surgery backlog spirals after flood damage unfixed
Burst pipes and extensive water damage after flooding at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital a week ago have led to the scrapping of elective surgery...
HJI goes to court to access vaccine supply records
Judgment was reserved this week in the Gauteng High Court case in which the Health Justice Initiative (HJI) had asked for an order instructing...
UK reviews weight-loss drugs after 'suicidal thoughts'
Britain is reviewing a class of drugs used in a diabetes medicine and a weight-loss treatment sold by Novo Nordisk (NOVOb.CO) after some patients...
Imported cholera case identified in Durban
A third positive imported cholera case has been identified in Durban, according to Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla, who said the 24-year-old patient had...
Paramedics hijacked, robbed in Pretoria
Two paramedics are receiving counselling after being hijacked, assaulted and robbed while responding to an apparent distress call in Pretoria.
The assailants used their bank...
Thousands of Gauteng patients catch hospital infections
Hospital infections, mostly due to poor infection control measures, affected nearly 8 000 Gauteng patients last year, most of them at Chris Hani Baragwanath,...
Lack of supplies and care for desperate SA stoma patients
The ongoing shortage of colostomy pouches in the public health system, where some desperate patients resort to plastic bags glued and taped to their...
North West struggles with medicines shortage
A chronic shortage of medication has been ongoing for months in North West public health facilities, according to the recently released third edition of...
Lack of ICU beds in Gauteng puts newborns at risk
A shortage of nearly 100 neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) beds in Gauteng hospitals is risking babies’ lives, especially premature and sickly infants.
The worst...
Digital Vibes graft accused closes testimony without calling witnesses
Digital Vibes corruption accused Lizeka Tonjeni is sticking to her story that part of the R160 000 deposited into her account was payment for...
Surging malnutrition data under-reported, say experts
An extra 6 000 children a year have gone hungry since Covid-19 and food price increases, but experts say reported figures are probably grossly...
Looming UK ban on over-the-counter codeine syrups
Britain’s medicines safety regulator has invited public comment on ending over-the-counter sales of codeine-based cough syrup, which is increasingly being used recreationally for its...
Cameroon children's deaths linked to toxic cough syrup
A batch of cough/cold syrup sold in Cameroon – under the brand name Naturcold – containing extremely high levels of a toxic ingredient, has...
Africa battles triple burden of malaria/cholera/measles
South Africa is not the only country struggling with an escalation in malaria cases: the same is happening in Zimbabwe, Mozambique and parts of...
Six-month reprieve for unused Pfizer jabs
Another six-month extension has been given to the shelf life of the country’s unused Pfizer Covid-19 vaccines by the South African Heath Products Regulatory...
First rise in Covid cases in six months, warn WHO, CDC
The US Centres for Disease Control & Prevention has said Covid-19 indicators in the country are rising, with emergency department visits, test positivity rates...
Ban disposable vapes by 2024, urges UK council
Councils in England and Wales want the British Government to ban the sale of single use vapes by 2024, with the Local Government Association...
Latest TikTok trend alarms health experts
The latest health-endangering fad on viral social media platform TikTok recommends adding household cleaner borax to bath water, which experts say could cause stomach...
J&J patent deal allows for cheaper generic TB drugs, but SA may lose out
Johnson & Johnson has struck a deal to allow generic versions of its TB drug to be supplied to low-income countries – but critics...
Nearly 5m South Africans placed on new HIV medicines in four years
In what is possibly one of the largest treatment roll-outs in South African history, more than 4m people with HIV have started taking the...
Free State infant malnutrition and deaths from starvation on the rise
Free State infants are still dying from a lack of healthy food, with 21 having died from severe acute malnutrition (SAM) between April and...
South Africa lags behind in genetic testing
SA is about two decades behind other countries in using genetic tests to optimise health care, say experts, who attribute this partly to medical...
Hospital staff who refused to be reallocated get R67m for doing nothing
Despite the closure of an Eastern Cape TB hospital two years ago, 45 of its staff have continued to be paid a total of...