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News Update
Idle clinic staff get tongue-lashing from Limpopo Health MEC
A social media video showing Limpopo Health MEC Phophi Ramathuba berating senior managers at Rethabile Clinic in Polokwane for sitting idle while patients wait...
Healthcare workers tell of the devastating toll of rolling power cuts
Healthcare workers are continuing to take strain from rolling power blackouts, with complications ranging from from non-functioning life support machines to essential medications going...
J&J discontinues HIV vaccine trial
A year after a Johnson & Johnson HIV vaccine failed a study, the company is again pulling the plug on a second late-stage global trial...
With millions due to expire, govt urges booster jab take-up
In an effort to use up its huge surplus of millions of Covid-19 vaccines, the national Department of Health is launching a fresh round...
Dentists warn of permanent damage from 'aligners' ordered online
British dentists and orthodontists have warned that customers of so-called remote dentistry risk being damaged by wearing clear braces or “aligners” ordered online if...
FDA denies accelerated approval for Alzheimer’s drug
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has refused accelerated approval for the investigational anti-amyloid donanemab (Eli Lilly) for early Alzheimer’s disease treatment because of...
Change in work hours suggested after heat stroke deaths
The recent heatwave was responsible for the deaths of seven farmworkers in the Northern Cape, where, in the Kakamas area, temperatures rose to 50...
DA calls for new security at Charlotte Maxeke hospital
After yet another massive copper cable theft from the beleaguered Charlotte Maxeke Hospital, the DA in Gauteng has called for the institution’s security company...
Latest WHO guidelines advises masks in enclosed areas
The wearing of face masks is still recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in its latest set of guidelines on the pandemic, particularly...
FDA proposes annual Covid jab, like flu shot
The US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has proposed an annual Covid shot for healthy adults, similar to the flu immunisation campaign, in efforts...
WHO probes raw materials link in lethal cough syrups
The World Health Organisation (WHO) is seeking more information about the raw materials used by six manufacturers that produced contaminated cough syrups linked to...
Discovery launches fund to boost screening and preventative healthcare
Taking up the cudgels against preventable diseases, Discovery Health Medical Scheme is using unprecedented reserves to launch The Wellth Fund, giving all members one-off...
New surge unlikely as 80% of Chinese population infected with Covid
A leading scientist in China says the Lunar New Year travel rush starting this past weekend was unlikely to lead to a surge in...
Convicted Theranos CEO a flight risk, say prosecutors opposing appeal
Former start-up company Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes is a flight risk and should not be allowed to stay out of prison while she appeals...
Malawi runs out of cholera vaccines as cases rise
Malawi, which is seeing a surge of cholera cases, has used up all of the 2.9m cholera vaccines in the country, and health officials...
Lassa fever cases rise in Nigeria
The Nigerian Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has reported that Lassa fever cases are continuing to rise across the country, with Edo...
Bureaucracy strangles specialist nurse supply in SA
South Africa has a shortage of 62 000 nurses, with about 50% of them being specialised nurses, and the crisis is worsening, the government’s...
Gospel star linked to Gauteng hospital tender gravy train
Gospel singer Xolani Jwaga, whose events company received more than R1.4m of the R50m spent in allegedly corrupt procurement initiated by suspended Tembisa Hospital...
Gauteng EMS plagued by attacks and shortages
Emergency Medical Services (EMS) in Gauteng face a daily battle with attacks on paramedics, service delivery protests, budget constraints, staff shortages, crime and inaccessible areas,...
Global healthcare systems struggling under increasing pressures
South Africa is not alone in buckling under a myriad challenges in its healthcare system as similar pressures place strain on public health systems...
Vaccine advisers slam US for alleged cover up of booster effectiveness
Angry US national vaccine advisers say government scientists and Moderna concealed data on a new Covid-19 booster last year during discussions on whether the...
SA Post Office in medical aid subsidies buy-out talks
The SA Post Office’s financial difficulties are likely to have a dire effect on pensioners belonging to medical aid schemes it subsidises, with the...
Alleged bid-rigging in Health Department’s R486m HQ deal
The national Department of Health (DoH) is about to fork out nearly R500m on a “suspicious”, possibly irregular lease contract for its new head...
Experts flag shortage of snake anti-venom stocks
A shortage of South African-produced snake anti-venom, partly caused by load shedding affecting production, and a waiting time of at least six months for...
China records 60 000 Covid deaths in a month
More than 60 000 Covid-related deaths have been reported in China in just over a month, the first statistics and death toll released since...
Indonesia families launch lawsuit over contaminated cough syrup
Families of Indonesian children who died after consuming contaminated cough mixture have demanded restitution at an Indonesian court, which has started hearing their class-action lawsuit...
Pfizer expands horizons for cancer and rare diseases drugs
Pfizer is forging ahead with the exploration of options for some early-stage treatments for rare diseases and cancer and focusing on “high-impact” medicines and...
Scientists slam BBC for airing claims by anti-vax cardiologist
An interview with a cardiologist whose views linking some Covid vaccines to excess heart disease deaths should not have aired, say scientists, who have...
Pfizer to sell drugs for no profit to world’s poorest countries
US drugmaker Pfizer is to offer its full portfolio of drugs, including off-patent medicines like chemotherapies and oral cancer treatments, on a not-for-profit basis to...
Gauteng scales up measles vaccines as infections increase
Amid escalating measles infections in the province, the Gauteng Department of Health is ramping up its vaccination campaign for children aged between six months...
Dumped hospital waste from hijacked vehicle, says company
A medical waste company has confirmed that the hazardous medical waste that washed up on Mdumbi and Mngcibe beaches this week had been dumped...
Uganda Ebola-free after beating outbreak
After a nearly four-month Ebola outbreak that it briefly struggled to contain, Uganda last week finally declared itself disease-free, managing to control the spread...
In the line of duty: healthcare staff killed in Boksburg explosion
In a tragic set of circumstances, the day before Christmas, a truck transporting liquefied petroleum gas exploded after it became wedged beneath a bridge...
Union urges stricter security after nurse killed in Eastern Cape hospital
The Public Servants’ Association (PSA) has repeated its calls for stricter and improved security measures to ensure the safety of health workers after the...
Robbers attack EMS crews, steal ECG machines, equipment, phones
Robbers have twice, in the past few months, ambushed a Gauteng Emergency Medical Services ambulance team and patients from Odi Base in Mabopane (Tshwane),...
Bara thefts 'deliberate sabotage', says Health Department
Two recent thefts in the space of three days at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital were deliberate acts of sabotage which put patients’ lives at...
Netcare again warns of SA’s critical nursing shortage
Netcare has again prodded the government about the acute shortage of nurses and appealed for an urgent response to the situation, saying the shortage...
‘Imported’ PPE for SAPS marked up 400%, sourced from Dis-Chem
A R515m Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) deal at the height of the pandemic, uncovered by SIU investigations, has revealed that hand sanitiser sold to...
Young doctors face uncertainty over placement in state hospitals
At least 400 doctors who have completed their community service face unemployment this year, according to the South African Medical Association Trade Union (Samatu),...
Measles cases continue to rise in SA
More than 305 laboratory-confirmed measles cases have been reported from five provinces in recent weeks, with declared outbreaks in Limpopo (131 cases), Mpumalanga (69...