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News Update
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...
Psychiatrists group urges government to spend more on mental healthcare
The South African Society of Psychiatrists (Sasop) has appealed to the government to up its mental healthcare spend, raising concern that mental healthcare was...
A woman dies every two minutes in pregnancy or childbirth: UN report
Maternal mortality rates climbed or stagnated in nearly all regions across the world in 2020, according to a report released by United Nations agencies,...
35 000 test backlog at forensic science labs
Ageing, unreliable equipment has resulted in a backlog of 35 776 tests at the forensic chemistry laboratories in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Pretoria, the...
FDA grants breakthrough tag for Moderna’s melanoma drug
Moderna’s experimental personalised mRNA skin cancer vaccine – in combination with Merck’s drug Keytruda – has received breakthrough therapy designation from the US Food...
Gauteng Health says unsafe tap water rumours have no basis
The Department of Health has dismissed claims that Gauteng’s tap water is unsafe to drink, with spokesperson Motalatale Modiba saying messages circulating on social...
No fire clearance certificates, floor plans, at Gauteng hospitals
Hardly any of the government hospitals in Gauteng have fire clearance certificates, floor plans or fire detection systems, with some not even having emergency...
Combo flu-Covid home test gets the nod from FDA
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has green-lighted the first combination test for flu and Covid-19 that can be used at home, giving...
Wuhan virus escape probably accidental – US agencies
The US Energy Department has reversed its previous position and used new research to conclude that the Covid-19 virus more than likely leaked from a...
Double tragedy as son killed after leading paramedic dies
The tragic death of well-known paramedic Paul Herbst, director of Medi Response KZN, two days after his return from a rescue mission in Turkey,...
Nurse stabbed at Helen Joseph Hospital
Two men, who had accompanied a patient to the casualty unit, attacked and stabbed a male nurse at Helen Joseph Hospital on Sunday and...
Community pharmacies can help reduce illegal abortions in SA
Community pharmacies can help women safely terminate their pregnancies although most are unaware of this service.
Thousands of women still seek illegal and dangerous backyard...
CDC warning about drug-resistant Shigella
The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued an alert about an observed increase in drug-resistant (XDR) Shigella infections in the...
Ugandan doctors strike after no pay for four months
Doctors in Uganda have downed stethescopes and scalpels over the government’s failure to pay their allowances for four months.
According to general secretary of Senior...
Little relief for embattled health sector in 2023 budget
Additional funds set aside for healthcare in the 2023 budget would be insufficient to counter the effect of cuts announced in 2021, reports BusinessLIVE,...