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News Update
Call on UK doctors to declare financial interests
The financial interests of all UK doctors should be made public, the British Medical Journal has said, after an investigation revealed large financial incentives have been offered to doctors by private healthcare companies in exchange for referring patients to their hospitals.
SA groups lobby for cheaper 'miracle' drug
Advocacy groups are lobbying to get Gilead Sciences''miracle' hepatitis C drug Solvaldi onto the SA market at substantially reduced cost.
Karoo fracking could cause cancer – CANSA
Carcinogenic chemicals used in fracking could lead to an epidemic of cancer in the Karoo, says Cancer Association of SA (CANSA) acting head of research Dr Carl Albrecht.
Disease risk on the agenda at Davos
The risks posed by pandemic threats such as deadly strains of flu and drug-resistant superbugs have shot up the agenda of global security issues at this year's World Economic Forum in Davos.
First successful newborn transplant in UK
UK doctors have carried out the first successful organ donation from a newborn in that country. The baby’s kidneys were transplanted and her liver cells were transfused.
WHO Contingency fund to confront epidemics
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has announced it will create a contingency fund and an emergency workforce to respond quickly to crises after strong criticism of the agency's delay in confronting the Ebola epidemic.
China reports growing HIV infections
China has diagnosed 104 000 new cases of HIV/Aids in 2014, a 14% increase on 2013. Chinese state-run media said that half a million people – less than 0.04% of the population – were living with the disease or the virus, although hundreds of thousands more are thought to be undiagnosed.
Drug firms 'to blame' in antibiotic resistance
The CEO of Dutch DSM Sinochem Pharmaceuticals says that although doctors are usually blamed for bacterial resistance because of over-prescribing, lax procedures at drugs companies are the real cause.
Plan to tackle UK's persistent TB problem
British health authorities have launched a £10m plan to tackle the country's persistent tuberculosis (TB) problem. UK TB rates are nearly five times those in the US.
SA community service doctors sit and wait
About 180 of SA's community service doctors are sitting at home waiting for placements in hospitals, despite dire staff shortages.
SA Health warns over foreign qualifications
SA’s Health Department has advised students wanting to study medicine overseas to ensure that the qualifications of their prospective institutions are recognised here. This comes as more than 13 medical graduates were barred from practising after graduating from universities in China, Turkey and Mauritius.
Dipping in the African gene pool
The African gene pool is so diverse that SA researchers are now using this unique genetic material in the effort to find a cure for HIV/Aids.
Combination Alzheimers’ pill approved
The US has approved a combination pill called Namzaric for moderate to severe Alzheimer’s disease in people already being treated with both drugs, Namenda and Aricept.
High insurance scares off SA specialists
Rocketing medical insurance costs are scaring off SA specialists, with only three paediatric surgeons in the country and all of them working in the public sector.
Deputy-minister opposes decriminalisation
Moves to decriminalise s ex work may come to nothing. SA's Justice Deputy Minister John Jeffery told a meeting in Johannesburg to address HIV infection among sex workers that decriminalising sex work could have negative consequences for the country.
SA's NHLS in 'critical condition'
SA’s National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) is in debt to the tune of R5bn, is leaking skilled staff, and many of the employees who remain are demoralised.
Cape Town researcher investigating trauma victims’ sleep patterns
Gosia Lipinksa at the University of Cape Town’s Sleep Sciences lab is trying to tease out the relationship between the disordered sleep patterns often...
Mental health – ‘the orphan of SA’s healthcare system’
Its special investigation has uncovered the ‘shocking state’ of mental health in SA, reports the Sunday Times. It writes that one third of all...
SA women line up for new contraceptive
Such was the demand in SA for a newly introduced female contraceptive implant that stocks have run dry at some clinics, reports Daily Maverick....
UK elderly denied life-saving operations
Elderly people are being denied life-saving operations because of age discrimination within the UK’s National Health Service (NHS), the Royal College of Surgeons and...
Harsh laws pushing Uganda’s Aids fight backwards – activists
Activists warn that inadequate funding coupled with harsh laws targeting same sex unions could erode the gains made in the fight against HIV in...
UK’s NHS making millions out of medical tourism
Medical tourism is a lucrative source of income for the UK’s National Health Service (NHS). The Guardian reports that a major new study contradicts...
Nature publishes retraction of stem cell studies
Two studies published earlier this year that purported to show how it was possible to produce embryonic-like stem cells by simply adding weak acid...
New guidelines on lumbar spine fusion procedures
Experts in the spine surgery community have banded together to evaluate the recent literature on lumbar spine fusion procedures and to publish up-to-date evidence-based...
‘Risky’ to fall asleep with baby – new NICE guidelines
Falling asleep with a baby in a bed, on a sofa or in an armchair is ‘risky’, UK government health advisors have said, in...
Opposition calls for Free State Health to be placed under national control
The opposition Democratic Alliance threatened to approach the Constitutional Court to force the Free State provincial government to guarantee quality health care for the...
Nigeria confirms first Ebola death
A Sierra Leone woman who fled hospital after testing positive for the Ebola virus has died after turning herself in, BBC News reports. Also,...
Emergency service regulations published for comment
Draft emergency health service regulations that have been published in the Government Gazette for comment within three months (Notice R585, Government Gazette 37869) propose...
SANDF is bleeding medical staff
SA’s military is losing doctors to the national Department of Health, the private sector and to other countries at an alarming rate. City Press...
Australia luring UK medical staff
A survey found that no fewer than half of the UK’s National Health Service nurses had thought about quitting their job, with many considering...
Children benefit more from nasal spritz than flu shot
Giving children ages 2 to 8 the flu vaccine via a nasal spray offers better protection than the traditional shot. Health24 reports that according...
Lack of herd immunity allowing measles to spread in the US
Measles cases in the United States are at their highest levels since 2000, when the disease was declared eliminated. This year 514 cases have...
British GPs failing to spot cancer to be ‘named and shamed’
General Practitioners in the United Kingdom who repeatedly fail to spot crucial signs of cancer are to be named and shamed under radical new...
Research project tackling respiratory antibiotic resistance
A new research project (PneumoNP) is aimed at tackling antibiotic resistance in respiratory tract infections via the use of inhalable nanother apeutic compounds, reports...
Scientists describe new type of TB treatment
Scientists are describing a new type of tuberculosis (TB) treatment that involves manipulating the body's response to TB bacteria rather than targeting the bacteria...
Free State and Gauteng Health departments in turmoil
As of June, the Free State’s Bloemfontein medicine depot had run out more than 200 essential drugs and supplies including HIV testing kits, at...
Lucrative offers luring SA paramedics overseas
Paramedics are leaving SA in droves for lucrative jobs overseas, where some are earning as much as R85,000 a month. A Sunday Times report...
Resistance to high costs making US pharma market more competitive
Determined to slow the rapid rise in drug prices, more health plans in the US are refusing to cover certain drugs unless the companies...
Lapse in procedure causes anthrax safety breach
The safety breach at a US government lab that may have exposed 84 workers to live anthrax centred on a pivotal lapse in procedure:...
Ebola outbreak hits ‘unprecedented’ proportions
The deadly Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa has hit 'unprecedented' proportions, according to relief workers on the ground, reports CNN. 'The epidemic is...