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News Update
Cosatu and Motsoaledi on collision course over NHI
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi and his department are on a collision course with Cosatu over the National Health Insurance (NHI), ahead of the governing...
Italy responds to measles' outbreaks with compulsory vaccination
The Italian has ruled that children must be vaccinated against 12 common illnesses before they can enroll for state-run schools, reports BBC News.
Prime Minister...
Gouging claims batter Aspen's reputation and share price
If not ruined entirely, multinational SA pharmaceutical giant Aspen has suffered untold repetitional damage, all of its own making, writes the Financial Mail.
The report says it is...
Major drug trial looks at statins to treat MS
Scientists are hopeful a major UK drug trial will establish that statins can be used to treat multiple sclerosis, reports The Guardian. The low-cost...
IPM starts three-month ring trial
The non-profit International Partnership for Microbicides (IPM) has announced the start of the first clinical trial of its three-month vaginal ring designed to prevent...
Health Ombud's orders on psychiatric patients ignored
About 100 psychiatric patients are still trapped in hospices unequipped to care for mentally ill patients after the Gauteng Department of Health had failed...
NHS doctor shortage puts young patients at risk
Specialist children's wards are being forced to shut in the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) hospitals due to a severe shortage of doctors, “jeopardising”...
Noakes cleared of misconduct. Full HPCSA judgment
After a three-year, multi-million saga, Banting-diet advocate Professor Tim Noakes has been cleared by the Health Professions Council of SA of misconduct after he...
KZN Health MEC begs patients not to sue over negligence
KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Sibongiseni Dhlomo has pleaded with patients who are victims of medical negligence to accept special public medical attention rather than being...
More Gauteng psychiatric patient deaths but 'not due to neglect'
In the 79 days since the release of the Health Ombudsman’s report into the death of around 104 mentally ill patients in Gauteng 'not...
CMS must consolidate SAMA case over specialists' billing
The Competition Tribunal has ordered the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) to submit further details and consolidate its case against the South African Medical...
Attacks the cause of a 'mass exodus' of EMS officials
The exodus of Western Cape emergency medical services (EMS) officials in response to attacks has had a negative effect on the number of ambulances that can...
DA calls for investigation into anti-competitive conduct at Aspen
The Competition Commission is to conduct an investigation into the alleged anti-competitive conduct of Aspen Pharmacare, reports News24. "It is important that any possible...
SAMA warning: KZN healthcare system is collapsing
The healthcare system is collapsing in KwaZulu-Natal‚ where hospitals are short-staffed and filled with broken equipment, while remaining staff battle frustration to offer patients...
SA joins recall of Epipen injector
Mylan SA and Meridian Medical Technologies, a Pfizer subsidiary, have issued an urgent recall of their EpiPen injector, which is used by patients who have...
SA's Aspen accused of driving up drug prices in Europe
South African firm Aspen Pharmacare is claimed to have 'plotted to destroy supplies of life-saving cancer medicines' over a battle to drive up prices...
HPCSA warns against global fee arrangements with medical schemes
The Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) has urged healthcare professionals not to sign agreements with medical schemes that bundle the money available for...
Stress not only a 'white man's disease' – cultural expert
Clinical psychologists and a Zulu culture expert have shot down President Jacob Zuma’s claim that stress is a 'white man’s disease', reports The Times.
Zuma...
Conditions at Eastern Cape hospital slide back to 'dismal'
Sick patients have been forced to leave their beds at the Holy Cross Hospital in the Eastern Cape and head outside to a nearby...
Govt and NGO campaign to teach traditional healers HIV/Aids testing
KwaZulu-Natal Health, together with a non-governmental organisation called Integration of TB in Education and Care for HIV and Aids (I-TEACH), have embarked on a...
Greece accuses Novartis of bribing 'thousands' of doctors
Greece's justice minister said Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis had likely bribed 'thousands' of doctors and civil servants to promote its products, amid an ongoing...
Fit doctors more likely to have healthy patients
Doctors are being encouraged to get active‚ and to prescribe exercise to their patients on a script. The Times reports that this call has...
NHS England to expand provision of 'game changing' stroke treatment
Thousands of stroke patients will be saved from lifelong disability after NHS England decided to invest millions of pounds in a new treatment hailed as...
48m for UK-US companies to develop antibiotics to fight superbugs
Eleven biotech companies and research teams in the UK and the US have been awarded up to $48m in funding to speed development of...
Nigeria launches mass meningitis vaccination campaign after 336 deaths
Nigeria is launching a mass vaccination campaign as part of its emergency response to an outbreak of meningitis in its north-western states, as the...
Bonitas claims 'price war' victory in dispute with hospital group
Bonitas, South Africa’s third largest medical scheme, is claiming victory in what it believes is the beginning of a competition and price war with...
Novartis leukaemia drug to get priority review from the FDA
A new leukaemia treatment from Novartis for children and young adults will get priority review from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), putting...
Drug-vitamin C combo may be breakthrough treatment for sepsis
A simple infusion of vitamin C combined with low-dose corticosteroids and thiamine may be the next breakthrough treatment for sepsis, according to a US...
Strategy to guide SA's fight against HIV for the next 6 years
South Africa is expected to release its new national HIV strategy later this month, according to a Bhekisisa report. In a country that continues...
EMA suspends drug approvals due to 'unreliable' tests in India
Europe's medicines regulator has recommended the suspension of more than 300 generic drug approvals and drug applications due to "unreliable" tests conducted by Indian...
Gilead faces fresh challenge in Europe over hepatitis C drug patent
International groups representing doctors and patients have launched a fresh challenge to the patent on Gilead Sciences' hepatitis C drug sofosbuvir at the European...
Some breast implants associated with rare cancer deaths
A rare cancer first linked to breast implants in 2011 has now been associated with nine deaths, reports The New York Times. This is according...
Tribunal finds doctor acted dishonestly over Ebola nurse's temp
A doctor acted dishonestly when she lied to investigators about the dangerously high temperature of a nurse who went on to develop Ebola, a...
FDA warns of risk of major adverse cardiac events with Absorb stent
Patients who received Abbott Laboratories' novel dissolving vascular stent had a significantly higher rate of serious adverse heart events than those treated with the...
Fentanyl chemicals added to controlled substance list
A UN body has added two chemicals used to make the drug fentanyl, which killed music star Prince, to an international list of controlled...
Doctor admits to misleading officials over Ebola nurses' temperature
A doctor has admitted that she misled other medics about the health of a colleague returning to the UK from West Africa with Ebola...
UK foods to miss stringent salt-reduction targets
Bread rolls are the only manufactured foodstuff likely to meet the UK’s stringent 2017 salt-reduction targets, research has revealed. The food industry will miss...
Australia looking at a ban on unvaccinated children
Unvaccinated children would be banned from childcare centres and preschools under an Australian government plan, reports BBC News. Some Australian states already have "no...
Kenyan public service doctors reject no-private-work clause
Public service doctors in Kenya have removed a contentious clause barring them from private practice in a document filed recently in court, says a...
Mozambique warns that cholera outbreak not slowing
Mozambique is battling a cholera outbreak that has infected 1,222 people and killed two, the country's health ministry said, warning that it has been...