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News Update
Health Ombud to probe nurses’ alleged refusal to help schoolgirl rape victim
Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane has called for a health ombudsman probe into allegations that Gqeberha nurses refused to help an injured rape victim...
SIU lawyers challenge former Health Minister Mkhize to deliver on his threat
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has challenged former Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize to deliver on his court threat to compel it to furnish...
Backlog of nearly 200 000 elective surgeries at public hospitals
Some 175 024 people are still waiting for their operations in public hospitals, with waiting lists of six months for many surgeries, the Department...
NHI flaws: Lack of transparency, scant guidelines, says Angelique Coetzee
Corruption, accountability and too much power to the minister, with little parliamentary oversight, are some of the major concerns about the National Health Insurance...
Phaahla: Africa’s shortage of healthcare skills faces ‘new challenges’
Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla has raised a red flag over Africa’s health human resource needs, saying that developing effective policies to tackle these...
UK health agency recommends lung screening for all current smokers over 55
Anyone over 55 who has ever smoked should be offered lung cancer screening, in the hopes of detecting more cases of the deadly illness...
Pfizer: Paxlovid fails to prevent COVID in members of same household
A large trial by Pfizer has found that its COVID-19 oral antiviral treatment Paxlovid was not effective at preventing coronavirus infection in people living...
UK trans charity investigated over breast binding, hormone-blocking drugs for 13-year-olds
A regulatory compliance case has been opened after red flags were raised about the British trans charity Mermaids, after revelations that it has been...
Mbeki slammed for repeating ‘misleading’ HIV/Aids statements
The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) has called on former President Thabo Mbeki to offer an apology to the public for the “dissident” views he...
Western Cape says no budget for critical breast cancer drug
A potentially lifesaving or life-extending breast cancer medicine is available to public sector patients in several South African provinces, but not in the Western...
Former global health chief slams SA tobacco legislation
Former secretary general of the World Medical Association Dr Delon Human has slammed SA’s tobacco lawmakers for likening tobacco harm reduction products to combustible...
EthiQal reassures members of stability with Titan after Constantia wind-up
EthiQal, the second largest medical indemnity player in South Africa after the London-based Medical Protection Society (MPS), has concluded its move out of parent...
Gauteng reports 10 cases of Omicron sublineage XAY
A cluster of 10 COVID-19 infections found in Gauteng has been linked to the XAY sublineage of the Omicron variant, according to the latest...
Water supply problems compound issues at Helen Joseph Hospital
In another challenge to existing frustrations like load shedding, overcrowding and staff shortages, services at Johannesburg’s Helen Joseph Hospital’s emergency department, theatre, intensive care...
SA finally to ban certain toxic pesticides
Nearly three years after the Women on Farms project in the Cape sounded the alarm over pesticides that have been linked to cancer, genetic...
Nurses union sides with suspended Tembisa Hospital boss
The Young Nurses Indaba Trade Union (YNITU) was “hijacked” in October last year in what one faction of union leaders says was a bogus...
Uganda announces first death in latest Ebola outbreak
Uganda has announced its first fatality from the highly contagious Ebola virus since 2019, after a 24-year-old man died, declaring an outbreak in the...
US health panel calls for routine anxiety screening in adults
Acknowledging America’s increasing mental health crisis, a group of medical experts is recommending that adults under 65 get screened for anxiety, to help clinicians...
Malawi wins fight against trachoma – and about to eliminate river blindness
Malawi has become the first country in southern Africa to eliminate trachoma, the leading infectious cause of blindness – the fourth on the continent...
NCDs now killing more South Africans than TB in major public health shift
For many years tuberculosis was the number one killer in South Africa, but there is now a new highway taking many people to their...
Damning Lancet report calls for WHO overhaul after 'massive' pandemic failure
The Lancet Commission has called for a major overhaul to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and global health policy after the estimated deaths of...
KZN Health MEC cracks the whip on hospital CEOs
Hospital CEOs need to become more accessible to the public, and if not, risk being charged with insubordination, KZN Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane has...
Calls to exempt hospitals and clinics from loadshedding
Health professional bodies and unions have urged the government to consider exempting hospitals and healthcare centres from Eskom’s continued load shedding which, they say,...
Solidarity takes legal steps over NHI ads for jobs that don't yet 'exist'
Trade union Solidarity has sent a legal letter to the deputy director-general of the National Health Insurance (NHI), Nicholas Crisp, demanding that he cease...
NICD analysis finds Omicron subvariant increases risk of reinfection
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) says your chance of contracting COVID-19 again is much higher if you had the Omicron strain, rather...
Tender tycoon scoops R36m from Tembisa in dubious dealings
One of the last suspicious deals murdered Gauteng Health whistle-blower Babita Deokaran red-flagged before her death was R36m in Tembisa Hospital payments bound for...
Global experts sign treaty to end fossil fuel dependence to protect people's health
Ending global dependence on fossil fuels to protect people’s health is critical, urged a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, leading academics and the head of...
Whooping cough rears its head after COVID hiatus, mainly in WCape children
South Africa is seeing an escalation of pertussis, commonly known as whooping cough, after a lull during lockdown, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases...
Paramedics attacked while waiting for SAPS escort
Another Gauteng Emergency Medical Services (EMS) crew has been attacked, the 12th so far this year, sparking an urgent call for communities to protect...
Safety audit proposed after hospital staff attacked by psychiatric patients
Since January, there have been 43 attacks by psychiatric patients on staff at 17 Gauteng state hospitals, with the DA in the province now...
Contract workers demand permanent jobs with Gauteng Health
Hundreds of workers affiliated to the National Union of Public Service and Allied Workers (NUPSAW) marched to the Gauteng Department of Health last week,...
500 000 Somali children face death in world’s worst famine this century
UNICEF has warned that more than 500 000 Somali children under five are expected to suffer severe acute malnutrition and risk death from famine...
Charlotte Maxeke repairs on track at 90%, but still two-year waiting lists
Although the Gauteng Health Department says repairs at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital are on track, operating at 90% – 974 beds compared with...
COVID cases at lowest level since March 2020, says WHO
The World Health Organization says the number of new COVID-19 cases has dropped dramatically, and has urged the world to seize the opportunity to...
Arm amputation for ex-wife of Zimbabwean vice-president after medical travel denied
The ex-wife of Zimbabwe Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga has had her right arm amputated after being denied permission to leave the country to seek medical...
US Congress grills Facebook over patients’ health data privacy breach
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is being quizzed over its access to sensitive medical data after an investigation by Markup –...
SA patients suffer and pharmacies under pressure as essential medicines run low
The aftershocks of COVID-19’s stranglehold on the global supply chain are affecting the availability of some essential medicines in South Africa, with medical associations...
Confirmation of second GBS death after J&J jab brings closure for widow
The SA Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) has confirmed that a second person has died from Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) after receiving the Johnson &...
State refuses to reimburse pharmacies for extra Pfizer doses
South Africa’s Independent Community Pharmacy Association, with some 1 200 members, is fuming after the national Health Department’s refusal to cover the costs of...
Phaahla to speed up process for critical skills appointments
Health Minister Joe Phaahla has said once all the required documents for critical skills endorsement letters have been received, the turnaround time to process...