HomeNews Update
News Update
Top 10 Discovery claims last year totalled R70m
Ten of the highest member claims paid by Discovery Health Medical Scheme (DHMS) in 2024 totalled R70.5m, the highest (R9.6m) going to a 75-year-old...
Eastern Cape Health official back in court for alleged qualifications fraud
Seasoned Eastern Cape Health communications officer Sizwe Kupelo, who appeared in the East London Commercial Crimes Court last week, has pleaded not guilty to...
Gauteng’s new multi-million-rand forensic lab still incomplete
Johannesburg’s much anticipated new state-of-the-art forensic laboratory, initially budgeted with a price tag of R588m but now hovering around R703m, is still only 98%...
US measles cases hit 33-year high
Measles cases in the United States have hit a 33-year high, with 1 288 confirmed infections in 39 states, according to the US Centres...
Plague kills US man in first death since 2007
An American living in northern Arizona has died from pneumonic plague – previously known as “The Black Death” – health officials said last week.
CBS reports that...
Court interpreter delivers baby by phone light in holding cell
A quick-thinking interpreter managed to deliver a detainee’s baby by cellphone light during a power outage at the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court in Katlehong...
European Union to stockpile vital medical supplies for future crises
The European Union plans to stockpile critical medical equipment and vaccines in case of future health crises and to set up a network to...
NIH restores grants to SA scientists
The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has – without explanation – lifted a hold on payments for scores of existing grants to South...
Bullying of medical interns a ‘silent epidemic’ – KwaZulu-Natal study
Workplace bullying within the medical profession is a silent epidemic, with junior doctors being the most vulnerable, KwaZulu-Natal researchers have found.
Writing in the SA...
Activists deny migrants access to hospitals and clinics
The National Department of Health has condemned the action taken by some groups to prevent foreign nationals from accessing essential healthcare services around the...
Task team probes staff crisis at Livingstone Hospital
A task team from the Eastern Cape Department of Health is to present a report shortly on the staffing haemorrhage from Gqeberha’s Livingstone Hospital and...
Supervisor still suspended as probe continues into intern’s death
The supervisor who was placed on precautionary suspension after the death of Dr Aluluto Mazwi at Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital in KwaZulu-Natal has not...
Vaccinations urged as measles infections spread in Free State
Health authorities in the Free State have confirmed 64 cases of measles across the Lejweleputswa district in children aged between five and nine, reports...
New SAHPRA board members
The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) has announced and welcomed its newly appointed board members, effective from 1 July 2025 to 30...
First malaria drug for newborns and babies approved
Novartis has received approval in Switzerland for Coartem Baby, the first drug to treat malaria in babies and very young children, with eight African countries...
EU funding boosts SA’s pandemic readiness with genomic research
South Africa is cementing its leadership role in global pandemic preparedness through a major expansion of its genomic surveillance partnership with Germany and the...
WHO punts 50% global tax hike for alcohol, tobacco and sugary drinks
The World Health Organisation wants health taxes hiked worldwide to slow down the epidemic of non-communicable diseases, pointing to a recent report suggesting that...
Zimbabwe's $400m medical equipment bid fans outrage
Questions are being raised in Zimbabwe after reports that the government is allegedly supporting a bid by a controversial businessman to supply medical drugs...
State facilities rack up R297m natural disaster damages
Floods and storms have resulted in millions of rands in damages to South African health facilities – hospitals, clinics and nursing homes – over...
200 children with lead poisoning after Chinese school adds paint to food
In an attempt to make its food look more colourful and attract more pupils, a kindergarten in western China added paint to its food,...
USAID cancels 100 000 emergency rape survivor kits for DRC
The Trump administration cancelled a major contract to supply 100 000 emergency kits for rape survivors in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as...
Kenya introduces warning labels after nutrition report
According to a recently released independent report, most of the packaged food and drink sold in Kenya by local and international companies is likely...
Australian dies from rare bat bite virus
A man has died from an “extremely rare” rabies-like infection transmitted by a bat bite – only three previous cases of human infection by...
Political battle over Discovery Medical Scheme trustee election
There was such a flurry of electioneering by nominees vying for three trustee positions becoming vacant this year at Discovery Health Medical Scheme that...
Jobless Cuban-trained doctors desperate for posts
Two dozen young doctors are sitting at home unemployed after completing their training – funded by the Free State government through the Nelson Mandela-Fidel Castro...
KZN Health MEC accused of cadre deployment
Several appointments in KwaZulu-Natal have come under scrutiny amid allegations of cadre deployment levelled against Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane, with accusations that she and...
Without Chinese data, Covid origins will remain a mystery – WHO
An expert group from the World Health Organisation has failed to find a definitive answer to Covid-19’s origins, the scientists saying they still aren’t...
‘Toilet rolls for R300 000’ – Gauteng Health still does dodgy deals
The DA has demanded that the Gauteng Health Department stop buying from companies linked to the fishy Tembisa Hospital contracts, which resulted in the...
Gauteng Health denies ‘bodies piling up’ at hospital morgue
There are no unclaimed bodies piling up at Helen Joseph Hospital, Gauteng Health has said after claims of multiple unclaimed bodies left in limbo...
Contaminated water detected in most SA school storage tanks
A national water testing campaign has found that most water storage tanks at South African schools are contaminated, and unfit for human consumption, while...
Fake Covid interview with Prof Karim slammed by Health Department
A video falsely portraying Professor Salim Abdool Karim criticising Covid-19 vaccines has been denounced as disinformation, according to the Centre for the Aids Programme...
New charges for Harvard scientist in frog embryo smuggling case
A Russian-born scientist from Harvard Medical School who was accused of smuggling frog embryos into the United States was indicted last Wednesday on additional...
Early cancer deaths cost British economy billions every year – UK study
Cancer Research UK (CRUK) reports that early deaths from cancer are pummelling the British economy to the tune of £10.3bn a year – lung...
Cancer ‘the new HIV in South Africa’
Cancer cases in South Africa are rising, with projections that numbers could reach 120 000 within the next five years – double what was...
HPCSA finds radiology firm guilty of unprofessional conduct
The Health Professions Council of SA (HPSCA) has found Netcare service provider Bergman Ross & Partners (BRP) guilty of unprofessional conduct.
BusinessLIVE reports that the...
Health experts urge government to prioritise antimicrobial resistance
An open letter from more than 70 infectious disease and public health experts is urging the Department of Health and Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi...
New posts for jobless doctors after protests
KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane announced yesterday that the department would be opening up 20 posts for unemployed doctors and advertising them within the...
No money for fire compliance at Charlotte Maxeke – Gauteng Health
Repairs to Charlotte Maxeke Hospital after the devastating fire in April 2021 are progressing well – albeit slowly – but the Gauteng Department of...
Gauteng Health on vaccine drive as measles spreads
Measles cases are escalating in Gauteng, with the Health Department now launching an aggressive vaccination campaign in schools and at taxi ranks, in efforts...
SA drags heels on vape regulations, warns WHO
South Africa is among the last 60 countries that have yet to ban or regulate e-cigarettes, and has been tardy in making tobacco products...