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News Update
Zimbabwe the first to green-light injectable HIV prevention drug
In a first for Africa, Zimbabwe’s Medicines Control Authority has approved the long-acting injectable cabotegravir (CAB-LA) as a pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention,...
‘DNA project’ nails serial killers, rapists, in KZN
Senior prosecutors in KwaZulu-Natal are scouring DNA reports to identify serial rapists, with Elaine Zungu, the province’s Director of Public Prosecutions, saying DNA testing...
Sharia scheme for Discovery Health Muslim members
Discovery Health members can now have their health administered in a sharia scheme at no extra cost and with no impact on their benefits,...
India vaccine-maker destroys 100m expired COVID doses
The Serum Institute of India (SII), the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, dumped 100m doses of its COVID-19 vaccine after they expired, said CEO Adar...
US teenage suicides up by 29% in past 10 years, finds report
Suicides had jumped 29% among American adolescents aged 15 to 19 over the previous decade, rising from 8.4 per 100 000 during the 2012-2014...
Health ombud warns that worsening state health facilities won’t make NHI grade
South Africa’s health ombud has warned Parliament that government health facilities won’t make the grade to provide services under National Health Insurance (NHI) because...
Medical schemes’ racial profiling inquiry report delayed
The findings of a high-profile inquiry into alleged racial profiling by medical schemes and administrators has been delayed over an apparent impasse between the...
Omicron-specific booster shows promise in trials, under consideration for SA
In the wake of a surge of COVID cases in the country, specifically the Western Cape and Gauteng, the South African Health Products Regulatory...
Tembisa tender ‘big cheese’ linked to Ramaphosa’s family
President Cyril Ramaphosa has been linked by default to the massive R859m Tembisa Hospital procurement scandal after revelations that a nephew of his by...
Free State doctor abducted, shot and killed
Free State police are investigating a case of house robbery and murder after a doctor was abducted in front of his family on Monday...
NICD declares measles outbreak in Limpopo
A measles outbreak has been declared in Limpopo by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) – an outbreak classified as three lab-confirmed cases...
Cape Town hospital denies abuse of 82-year-old patient
The New Somerset Hospital in Cape Town has denied accusations of abuse after an 82-year-old patient died on Monday, with her family saying she...
Midwife delivers quadruplets at Musina clinic
A woman has successfully given birth to quadruplets at the Masisi Clinic near Musina in Limpopo, the Health MEC Dr Phophi Ramathuba has said,...
Report shows deteriorating conditions at Free State clinics
“Today we were lucky they did not send us back home,” says Makhothatso Mohomaile (63) outside the Bloemspruit Clinic in Mangaung where she is...
SA Cabinet approves signing of African Medicines Agency Treaty
The African Medicines Agency (AMA) will be key to the integration of African manufacturing into the global pharmaceutical value chain, an important step for...
Pioneering world-first intestine transplant for Spanish baby
A 12-month-old Spanish baby girl has become the world’s first recipient and survivor of a successful intestine transplant from a donor who died of...
New COVID wave spreading in Europe, WHO warns
The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the European Centre for Disease Control & Prevention (ECDC) have warned that a new wave of COVID-19 appears...
Three more charges for former officer in Cape hospital shootings
A former Vredenburg police officer charged with murdering a fellow officer and two patients at New Somerset Hospital in Cape Town this year will...
KZN mortuary workers protest over state of facilities
Disgruntled workers at KwaZulu-Natal government mortuaries are demanding changes in the functioning of some provincial morgues, accusing the Department of Health of not meeting...
Revamped R29m Eastern Cape mental health facility for teenagers
Eastern Cape Health MEC Nomakhosazana Meth unveiled a R29m newly upgraded child and adolescent facility at Fort England Hospital in Makhanda last week, marking...
Trial drugs cure 20 Ebola patients in Uganda
Trial drugs have saved the lives of 20 people infected with the Ebola Sudan virus in Uganda, say doctors, who were using monoclonal antibodies,...
Experts propose eight-point global plan to end mental health stigma
Experts have called for urgent and radical global action to end the stigma and discrimination against people who have mental health conditions, as this...
COVID cases on the rise in the Western Cape
Authorities are concerned by a sharp increase in COVID-19 infections in the Western Cape, with the SA Medical Research Council (SAMRC) saying yesterday that...
Return of medical schemes’ premium hikes
South African medical aid schemes that had deferred their annual increases to April or October this year have once again announced a deferment of...
Tembisa Hospital audit buried for a year and recommendations ignored
In what appears to be more evidence of blatant complicity and a massive cover-up, a Gauteng Health Department audit of Tembisa Hospital, after Babita...
Euthanasia warning from campaigners after death of woman with PTSD
British campaigners fighting the introduction of assisted dying laws have expressed outrage after a physically healthy 23-year-old Belgian woman was helped to die, describing...
Medical aid not yet reinstated for anxious SA Post Office staff
The 20 000 SA Post Office (SAPO) workers, their dependants and pensioners whose MediPos Medical Scheme cover was cancelled from 1 October after the...
Maternity unit strike at Dora Nginza Hospital, Eastern Cape, ends
The centre for specialist care for mothers and babies at Dora Nginza Hospital in Nelson Mandela Bay, which was shut down last Thursday and...
Complex vaccine process earns Health Department qualified audit
For the first time in more than 10 years, the Department of Health has received a qualified audit for the 2021-2022 fiscal year –...
New STI guidelines emphasise screening
The latest guidelines on managing the spread of sexually transmitted infections (STI) focus on the importance of screening, a shift that has been welcomed...
Seal of approval for SAHPRA systems from WHO
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has given its stamp of approval to the SA Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra) for its well-functioning and integrated...
Probe into Indian cough syrup link to Gambian children’s deaths
The SA Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) has issued a warning against contaminated baby products linked to the deaths of dozens of babies in...
Nearly 100 000 lives could be saved if 80% of eligible Americans got COVID boosters
If more Americans received COVID booster shots, billions of dollars could be saved and nearly 1m hospitalisations avoided, according to a study from The...
Philadelphia apologises for medical experiments on black inmates
The US city of Philadelphia issued an apology last week for the unethical medical experiments performed on mostly black inmates at its Holmesburg Prison...
Surgeons operate in dangerous heat as Charlotte Maxeke aircon fails
Surgeons are operating in dangerously high heat in the theatres at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital (CMJH) as the air-conditioning broke down last week,...
Biden pleads to Congress to pass law protecting abortion rights
President Joe Biden has urged the US Congress to pass a law codifying a woman’s right to an abortion, and also raised concerns about...
Gauteng Health legal head paid R4.7m to twiddle her thumbs at home for 3 years
Gauteng Health chief director of legal services advocate Mpelegeng Lebeloane has been paid R4.7m since June 2019, despite her having not worked a day,...
Curator: Health Squared ruined by maladministration
The financial ruin of medical scheme Health Squared could not be blamed solely on the pandemic, but rather, on maladministration, the scheme’s curator has...
‘Corruption mafia’ claimed to be manipulating hospital tenders
A Gauteng hospital “corruption mafia”, allegedly headed by suspended Tembisa Hospital CEO Ashley Mthunzi, is claimed to have been “manipulating” tender processes to plunder...
37 of more than 300 public hospitals so far exempted from load shedding
Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla has announced that 37 of the country’s 300 public hospitals are now free of load shedding. Private hospitals, he...