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News Update
State plans to use private hospitals to slash psychiatric assessment queues
Health Minister Joe Phaahla says that in future, mental health patients awaiting trial could have psychiatric observations in private hospitals, as government patients wait...
Cipla to produce anti-HIV injection in Benoni, Durban
The South African arm of Indian drug company Cipla has confirmed that a generic version of the two-monthly HIV prevention injection, CAB-LA (long-acting cabotegravir),...
Business plea to keep medical aids under NHI
Business Unity SA (Busa) pleaded with the government at the Summit to allow medical schemes to continue operating under National Health Insurance (NHI), to...
Overcrowded hospital transfers 29 pregnant women
A total of 29 pregnant women, who were sleeping on the floor at Dora Nginza Hospital in Nelson Mandela Bay and not being given...
SIU Covid corruption probes plod on with little action
The updated, ‘Third Final Report’ by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) into Covid-related corruption reveals the mammoth scale of the brazen plundering and looting:...
Gauteng clinics still denying treatment for pregnant migrants
Pregnant women who are immigrants are still being turned away from some clinics in Gauteng, despite an April High Court ruling that pregnant women...
Eastern Cape doctor shot and killed
Police are searching for four people who shot and killed a doctor inside his surgery in Gqeberha last Wednesday night.
Police spokesperson Captain Andre Beetge...
Nine Gauteng hospitals still without permanent CEOs
Nine out of 37 public hospitals in Gauteng are still being run by acting bosses, with two of them having already gone 12 months...
Contract chaos blamed for hospitals food shortages
Over-contracting several suppliers and non-payment by the Department of Health (DoH) are causing chaos in Gauteng’s hospitals, the long-standing cash flow problems and backlog...
Covid the final straw for SA's abandoned children
South Africa has one of the highest rates of child abandonment in the world, (10 000 per year), one in three of them dying...
Ministerial committee to address maternal and newborn health
It has been reported that South Africans still face challenges when accessing antenatal care visits and skilled birth attendants, Health Minister Joe Phaahla said...
WHO ends Covid global state of emergency
The World Health Organisation has declared the Covid global health emergency over, nearly 40 months after it was first declared a public health emergency...
Soweto hospital’s first heart surgery saves hero pupil
Emergency staff at Bheki Mlangeni District Hospital (BMDH) in Jabulani, Soweto, saved a Grade 12 pupil’s life last month by performing their first heart...
Aspen signs deal with US biotech group
SA’s biggest generic drugmaker, Aspen Pharmacare, has concluded a deal that will give it exclusive rights to market, distribute, use and sell American pharma...
Call for smoke-free SA – like Sweden
Health experts are calling for a smoke-free South Africa, urging President Cyril Ramaphosa to emulate Sweden’s policy that combines tobacco control methods with harm...
Another Covid jab-related death, but more highly unlikely
A third person has died after receiving the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine in South Africa, but it’s very unlikely, says an immunisation expert, that...
New boss for HPCSA
Former North West Health MEC Dr Magome Masike has been appointed to take over as the new CEO of the Health Professions Council of...
SA failing to meet palliative care needs, conference hears
Just 18% of people needing palliative care in South Africa have access to it – and over the past decade, the number of hospices...
Ageing population contributes to high cancer deaths in SA
Early detection remains critical to reducing cancer rates in South Africa, with a recent report revealing that deaths from the disease rose from 5.6%...
Call for tighter safety measures for acne drug linked to suicides
Health authorities in Britain have called for boosted safety measures when prescribing a treatment for severe acne, after reports that numerous people have committed...
Teen pregnancies surge in Eastern Cape
The rate of teenage pregnancies in the Eastern Cape has become a major concern, particularly in the OR Tambo district municipality, which leads for...
Under-diagnosis of ectopic pregnancies is killing women – UK expert
Women are dying or suffering avoidable harm because of a failure to recognise ectopic pregnancy, says a leading British maternal health expert, who has...
FDA approves first oral faecal-based therapy
The US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has given the nod to the first oral faecal microbiota product, named Vowst and developed by Seres Therapeutics,...
NHS extends ‘soup and shakes’ diet to slash diabetes epidemic
Tens of thousands of British patients will be eligible to have their type 2 diabetes reversed as the National Health Service (NHS) rolls out...
WHO alert after more contaminated Indian cough syrups detected
Another batch of contaminated Indian-made cough syrup has been found, with the WHO saying the tested samples of Guaifenesin TG syrup showed “unacceptable amounts...
Sudan health sector 'on its knees' as hospitals close, supplies dry up
Seventy percent of hospitals in Sudan have shut down and the country is running out of vital medical supplies as a result of the...
No nod yet from South Africa for African Medicines Agency Treaty
South Africa has yet to sign the African Medicines Agency (AMA) treaty, which is dedicated to improving access to quality and safe medical products...
SA hosts global congress on maternal, neonatal health
Cape Town will host the inaugural International Maternal Newborn Health Conference (IMNHC) from 8-11 May, which will bring together 1 800 delegates from across the...
AG flags irregularities as Gauteng Health bosses implicated in new graft claims
As fresh allegations of graft implicating top Gauteng health officials emerged, the Auditor-General has outlined a litany of irregularities totalling millions of rands which...
R250m Tembisa Hospital syndicate still scoring tenders
One of the companies involved in the syndicate that banked R250m in Tembisa Hospital contracts has still, since then, been paid nearly R1m by...
Alternative energy plans for healthcare facilities
The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has been tasked to conduct a due diligence study on rolling out solar energy to health...
Northern Cape’s only tertiary hospital in crisis, says DA
The DA has submitted a list of complaints and questions to Health Minister Joe Phaahla, the provincial Health MEC and the acting HoD, as...
Mental healthcare resources dire in some provinces, says Phaahla
Mpumalanga is still the only province without a specialised facility for people with dual mental health issues, with such patients having to be referred...
New clinics and hospital upgrades in KZN health budget
KwaZulu-Natal will be investing in nine new clinics and two community health centres (CHC), with construction plans already being finalised and building likely to...
Bara newborn sent home with wrong mother
Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital is investigating a case of negligence after a newborn baby was incorrectly released to the wrong mother, which was spotted...
Thousands of people still waiting for wheelchairs in Eastern Cape
The waiting list for wheelchairs in the Eastern Cape is 10 times longer than in any other province, causing tremendous suffering to 5 000...
UK launches probe into nail gel allergic reactions
The British Government is investigating reports that increasing numbers of women are developing life-changing allergies to some acrylic and gel nail products, with dermatologists...
Condoms out of stock in Gauteng
Sexually transmitted infection (STI) cases are on the rise in Gauteng, partly due to a shortage of condoms – a 45% decline in their...
Vaccine hesitancy sees drop in childhood jabs post pandemic – Unicef
The Covid-19 pandemic has been blamed for people worldwide losing confidence in the importance of routine childhood vaccines against killer diseases like measles and...
Honorary doctorate for WHO boss from Tuks
Director-General of the World Health Organisation Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has been given an honorary doctorate by the University of Pretoria in recognition of...