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News Update
Treasury says NHI implementation so slow that no budget is needed anytime soon
The National Treasury has issued a scathing assessment of the government’s slow progress in implementing National Health Insurance (NHI), saying the ANC’s flagship plan...
Office of Health Standards Compliance tells Parliament it can’t afford to do its job
The government’s watchdog agency for inspecting hospitals and clinics has told Parliament it needs more resources if it is to expand its oversight into...
Pfizer to deliver generic version of its COVID pill to 95 countries
US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer is to make its prospective antiviral COVID-19 pill, Paxlovid, to 95 low-and middle-income nations covering about 53% of the world’s...
Former Chief Justice criticises government over COVID-19 response
Recently retired Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng criticised the SA government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and accused it of interfering with citizens' fundamental rights,...
Stats SA: More than 600 girls aged 9 and 10 had babies in 2020
Early pregnancy and motherhood in South Africa are creating a huge risk in terms of maternal complications and low survival rates of babies, forcing...
Staff shortages and long waiting times plague KZN Health
While KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) is doing comparatively well on key HIV indicators, the public healthcare system in the province is plagued by staff shortages, long...
Opposition to COID regulations grows with 130 bodies calling for scrapping
Stakeholders representing more than 130 cross-sectoral bodies, including the SA Medical Association, have called on Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi to withdraw the...
HPCSA warns that anti-vax doctors may face misconduct inquiries
The Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) is investigating complaints lodged by the public against doctors who have adopted an anti-vaccination stance, reports The...
Deokaran murder: Prosecutor says Zweli Mkhize either ‘potential witness or suspect’
Although he has denied any involvement in the assassination of Gauteng Health whistleblower Babita Deokaran on 23 August outside her home in Winchester Hills,...
DoH gives assurance that it will stop ‘acting as if NHI Bill is already law’
The Department of Health has said it will refrain from further statements in connection with National Health Insurance (NHI) until the Bill has been...
Almost 12,000 people died from COVID caught in an NHS hospital in England
Some 11,700 people caught COVID and died after being admitted to NHS hospitals in England for other ailments, The Telegraph reports. In some trusts,...
Unregistered Northern Cape doctors arrested by HPCSA and SAPS
Two nationals from the Democratic Republic of Congo have been arrested and charged with contravening the Health Professions Act after they were found working...
Declassified US report on origins of COVID is rejected by China as ‘unscientific’
A declassified report from the Office of the US Director of National Intelligence (ONDI) on the origins of COVID-19, released on Friday (29 October),...
Merck foregoes royalties to allow global drugmakers to make its COVID-19 pill
US pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co said it will license drugmakers in other countries to produce its potentially lifesaving antiviral pill for treatment of...
Deokaran murder accused says claims of Mkhize involvement followed ‘night of torture’
Former Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize has said attempts to implicate him in the murder of Gauteng Health whistleblower Babita Deokaran were aimed at...
26-member SA universities body backs mandatory vaccinations
The 26-member vice-chancellors body, Universities South Africa (USAf), has emphatically declared that vaccination is a must, saying that the best scientific evidence has found...
DoH not reimbursing private pharmacies for vaccinations, as agreed
Despite initial assurances from the Department of Health regarding reimbursement of COVID vaccination costs, a number of pharmacies have still not been paid for...
FDA sets stronger safety warnings for breast implants
The US regulator has finalised stronger warnings for breast implants, including a new requirement that people receive detailed information about their potential risks and...
Discovery analysis: COVID-19 death claims exceed all others combined
In the first eight months of 2021, COVID-19 accounted for 57% of Discovery Life’s death claims, more than all other claims combined.
“If we inspect...
A 6-hour, 500km, daily trip to wash Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital’s linen
Public hospitals in Mthatha are fed up with the ineffective and inadequate laundry facilities at their institutions, with staff from the Nelson Mandela Academic...
All Blacks star joins international class action following early onset dementia diagnosis
Aged only 41, former All Blacks rugby international Carl Hayman has been diagnosed with early onset dementia and probable chronic traumatic encephalopathy, reports The...
FDA green-lights third jab for immunocompromised people
The US Food and Drug Administration is poised to amend the emergency use authorisations for the Pfizer and the Moderna COVID-19 vaccines to allow...
No discharge date for Zuma after surgery
The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) says it is unable to predict a discharge date for Jacob Zuma, who was admitted to an outside...
Unrest had considerable impact on SA’s healthcare professionals – MPS survey
The impact of the July unrest on South Africa’s healthcare professionals was such that many had to reduce or stop practice, as well as...
US emergency departments are being overwhelmed but not by Covid
Even in parts of the United States where COVID-19 isn't overwhelming the health system, patients are showing up to Emergency Rooms (ER) sicker than...
Eswatini nurses refuse to treat police following alleged shooting of 30 colleagues
Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) nurses are refusing to treat police officers, whom they accuse of shooting and injuring at least 30 nurses and killing a...
Mass burial to relieve overflowing Papua New Guinean hospital morgue
Papua New Guinea authorities have approved a mass burial to ease the pressure on Port Moresby’s hospital morgue where bodies are stacked on top...
KZN Health MEC again fails to submit annual report to Scopa
KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu has again failed to submit her departmentʼs 2020/21 Annual Report to Parliament’s Standing Committee of Public Accounts (Scopa).
The opposition...
SAMA wants booster shots for healthcare workers and the right to choose which vaccine
The South African Medical Association (SAMA) has called for immediate COVID-19 booster shots for healthcare workers and that they should also have the right...
Former Health minister says loan to wife was above board
Former Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize said the Ithala Development Finance Corporation Bank loan granted to his wife Dr May Mkhize in 2006 was...
HPCSA again fails to comply with court order on foreign-qualified doctors
A group of 71 foreign-trained South African doctors has applied for a contempt of court sanction against the Health Professions Council of SA (HSPCA),...
First pig-to-human kidney transplant
Scientists temporarily attached a pig’s kidney to a human body and watched it work, a small step in the decades-long quest to one day...
Mkhize challenges 'unlawful and unconstitutional’ SIU conduct
Former Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize has filed an application in the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) seeking to review and set aside findings and...
UCT Centre for Actuarial Research: SA’s COVID death toll almost 3x official figure
Taking into account deaths of non-South Africans who are not on the population register and that the Department of Home Affairs is not notified...
SAPHRA gives a thumbs-down to Sputnik V vaccine over HIV fears
Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine is unlikely to be rolled out any time soon in this country, with the SA Health Products Regulatory Authority...
WMA demands action against ‘self-diagnosis, self-prescription and self-medication’
The World Medical Association (WMA) has called on national healthcare user associations to combat the “growing culture of ill-advised self-diagnosis, self-prescription and self-medication”, at...
Mediscor Review: Bipolar disorder replaces asthma in top 5 chronic diseases
The 19th edition of the Mediscor Medicines Review has just been released, detailing an analysis of the Mediscor medical scheme population, showed that during...
SA hits 20m vaccinations but still way below target and global average
On Friday (15 October), South Africa breached the landmark of 20m COVID-19 doses administered, with another 154,000 people added to the tally of those...
Ivermectin: Further claims of ‘serious errors or potential fraud’ in studies
An investigation claims further serious errors in various key studies on which the promoters of Ivermectin for COVID-19 rely. Citing a group of five...
Retirement boom and training drought — SA’s looming nursing crisis
Almost half of South Africa’s nurses due to retire in the next 15 years and with only universities accredited to offer the professional nurse...