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News Update
Marburg disease strikes Tanzania, kills five
Tanzania has confirmed that five people have died in its first ever cases of Marburg, the high fatality haemorrhagic disease with similar symptoms to...
Avian flu shots prepped for humans ‘just in case’
Despite global health officials saying the risk of transmission of a new strain of avian flu from birds to humans is low, leading vaccine...
Kusile gets the nod to release more pollutants
Despite health or environmental impacts, Eskom’s Kusile Power Station has been granted an exemption from complying fully with national air quality regulations and allowed...
WHO director of Western Pacific office fired over abuse claims
The director of the World Health Organisation’s Western Pacific Regional Office (WPRO) has been fired after a prolonged investigation of allegations of abusive conduct...
Gauteng partners with private sector to reduce cancer backlog
Although the Gauteng Department of Health’s budget has been decreased by 2% for the 2023/34 year, shrinking from R61bn last year to R60bn, a...
Hospital faces switch-off over allegedly wrongly directed utilities bill
Mankweng Hospital in Limpopo is about to have its water and lights cut off over a R53m bill for outstanding rates payments which has...
WHO flags worrying migration of health workers from poor countries
Pre-Covid, there was already a trend of nurses and other health workers fleeing Africa and southeast Asia for better jobs in wealthier countries, but...
Free State Health HoD still in charge despite corruption charges
Despite Free State Health Department head Godfrey Mahlatsi facing corruption charges, he is still in the job, and while new Premier Mxolisi Dukwana vowed...
NGO says nurse violated human rights, ‘licence must be withdrawn’
The Eastern Cape Health Department has been urged by an NGO, the Passionate Unlimited Peers in Action (Pupa), to revoke a nurse’s licence after...
Huge strides by Cape hospital in reducing surgical backlogs
Efforts to reduce a surgical backlog at Cape Town’s Karl Bremer Hospital are paying off, and despite challenges like extremely high patient numbers, particularly...
FDA pulls controversial pre-term birth drug
The US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has withdrawn from the market the drug Makena, the only medication ever approved – in 2011 –...
India issues product ban after cough syrup deaths
Drug manufacturers in India have been prohibited from using propylene glycol sourced from the Delhi-based firm that supplied the ingredient to Marion Biotech, whose...
Pepfar changes strategy, empowers Africa in HIV battle
South Africa is among nearly 30 African countries receiving billions of dollars in HIV/Aids funding from the US Government, all of which, thanks to...
'Smart fridge' to expedite blood supplies
A smart blood fridge, aimed at reducing turnaround times for patients to receive blood, has been launched by the South African National Blood Services...
More support needed for genetic tests to diagnose rare diseases in children
While many patients can wait eight years or longer for a diagnosis, experts say that one single genetic test can identify a rare disease...
US grants R40m to Stellenbosch University for HIV research
A R40m grant has been awarded by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) to Stellenbosch University Professor Frank Tanser, a leading scientist in...
Health tech start-up scores $1.65m funding
Local health-tech start-up Envisionit Deep AI has raised $1.65m that it hopes will unlock the company’s next growth phase in AI-driven healthcare and diagnostics...
Western Cape steps up measles campaign
With a measles outbreak having been declared in all provinces except the Eastern Cape, the Western Cape provincial Health Department has given parents and...
TikTok challenge lands dozens of US students in hospital
The latest TikTok challenge has resulted in dozens of students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst being admitted to hospital after participating in the...
Obesity should be treated as urgent 'gateway' medical condition, say experts
With more than half of South Africans now overweight or obese, experts are calling for the 'gateway condition' to be treated as a medical...
Gauteng health facilities run out of diesel under load shedding strain
As the country reels from Eskom’s blackouts, health services countrywide, including in Gauteng, are taking massive strain, with some facilities in the province running...
Medical scheme excludes GPs from fees increase
The KwaZulu-Natal Doctors Healthcare Coalition (KZNDHC) has written to the chief medical officer of the SA Municipal Workers Union Medical Scheme (Samwumed) expressing its...
NHI Bill meeting delay questioned
There is “no sinister reason” behind delays in a key meeting on the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill, says the chair of Parliament’s Portfolio...
Medical aids challenge Covid test prices
The Health Funders Association (HFA) has lodged a complaint against the price of Covid-19 tests, aimed at clawing back some R1bn previously paid out...
Gauteng Health HoD resigns
After less than a year at the helm of the Gauteng Health Department, Dr Nomonde Nolutshungu has resigned and will leave at the end...
More younger people being diagnosed with colorectal cancer
Previously, colorectal cancer was associated mainly with the older generation; but recently there has been an increase in diagnoses and deaths among younger adults,...
'Pantsula' doctor creates social media stir
The Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) says it does not regulate how doctors dress or their lifestyle, after backlash on Twitter over Newcastle’s...
Increase in breast implant-linked lymphoma cases
As more cases of breast implant-associated anaplastic large-cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL) emerge, clinical experience has shown the disease to be heterogeneous and that multidisciplinary management...
NHLS to ramp up toxicology testing to reduce backlog
The National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) said last week that it would provide additional resources to help reduce the pile of 35 775 outstanding...
Eli Lilly slashes insulin prices by 70%
US pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly is cutting the cost of its insulin by 70% and has called on rival drug producers to follow suit...
Covid-19 staff face the chop as funding ends
Nurses and other staff hired during the Covid-19 pandemic in Gauteng and the Western Cape now stand to lose their jobs as funding dries...
New R4.5bn hospital for Limpopo
The Limpopo Government plans to construct a R4.5bn state-of-the-art 488-bed hospital, beefing up the province’s existing 43 hospitals – five regional, 34 district and...
Cough syrups 'almost certainly' to blame for children’s deaths – US CDC
Contaminated cough and paracetamol syrups imported into The Gambia almost certainly caused the deaths of 66 children due to acute kidney injury, according to...
WHO urges countries to make public their info on Covid origins
After recent FBI claims about a Wuhan lab leak being responsible for the spread of Covid-19, followed by furious denials from Beijing, the World...
Africa’s medical specialist shortage at critical point – experts
Retaining and securing medical specialists for Africa is a necessity, not a luxury, for quality integrated public healthcare, say experts, who warn that the...
SA’s worst measles outbreak in 10 years – 600 cases and counting
Measles cases in South Africa had climbed to more than 600 by last week, fuelled by the disruption to routine childhood vaccination programmes caused...
Warning of possibly more cholera cases
A sixth case of cholera has been identified in South Africa, with the national Department of Health warning that there could be more to...
Dis-Chem says white dispensary clients left after CEO’s letter
Dis-Chem, SA’s second largest pharmacy group, lost some regular dispensary customers who pulled their scripts from stores in October after a memo was leaked...
US to renew PEPFAR funding despite SA, Russia ties
American senators visiting South Africa last week to assess the impact of a major US-funded HIV-Aids scheme said they would renew the programme, despite...
Omicron XBB.1.5 variant now dominant in SA but no need to worry, say experts
The Omicron subvariant XBB.1.5, also known as Kraken, is now the dominant strain among positive Covid-19 tests in South Africa, but experts say it...