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News Update
Drug pricing committee denies 'ambiguity' in its formula
The advisory body that guides the Health minister on medicine price increases says there is no ambiguity in the formula it applied, contrary to...
With NICD reporting two more listeriosis deaths, fatalities reach 193
Two more people have died from listeriosis in South Africa, raising the death toll to 193, according to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases...
Interim results show affordable hepatitis C treatment to be safe
An affordable hepatitis C treatment has been shown to be safe and effective, with very high cure rates for patients including hard-to-treat cases, in...
Pakistan reports first known drug-resistant typhoid epidemic
The first known epidemic of drug-resistant typhoid is spreading in Pakistan, raising fears that more diseases worldwide are heading towards being untreatable. The typhoid...
Tissue-destroying ulcer cases at epidemic proportions in Australia
A severe tissue-destroying ulcer once rare in Australia is rapidly spreading and is now at epidemic proportions in regions of Victoria, prompting infectious diseases...
Prem babies born to HIV-positive mothers on the increase in SA
Deaths of premature babies born to HIV-positive mothers are on the increase in South Africa, reports the Cape Argus. According to University of Cape Town researcher...
SA drug manufacturers face significant regulator fees increases
Drug manufacturers will soon face a significant increase in the fees charged by South Africa’s new medicines regulator, as it moves to end an...
Unions combine to hobble North West Health over corruption
Powerful unions have pledged to combine their strengths and bring North West Health to a grinding halt, reports The Citizen. The reason is perceived corruption in the...
Gauteng Health announces that it will pay doctors' overtime
Gauteng Health has announced that it will begin the process of paying overtime claims for hundreds of doctors in the province, The Citizen writes.
This was after...
Limpopo suspends NGO services over health worker non-payment outcry
Limpopo Health has suspended the services of at least 300 NGOs after an outcry over the non-payment of home-based care workers who were in the...
SAHRC acts on 'racist' Limpopo doctor
A Limpopo doctor accused of racially segregating his patients and staff, and charging different rates according to race, has released a general public apology,...
SAHRC investigates medical surgery over ethics breaches
A medical surgery in Mokopane, Limpopo, has come under fire from the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) for alleged racism, breaching a number...
UK doctors working 'unmanageable' hours — Royal College of GPs
GPs across Britain are working above safe levels because of relentless and unmanageable workloads, The Guardian reports leading doctors have warned. Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard,...
AfroCentric Health MD suspended after alleged assaults
The MD of AfroCentric Health has been suspended after allegedly assaulting a close female relative and two friends in the early hours of last...
Gauteng Health is running out of furniture…
Gauteng Health has had more of its furniture seized to settle debts owed to companies, with Gauteng Health MEC Gwen Ramokgopa admitting that the department owes...
Competition threats may block Mediclinic merger
Mediclinic’s proposed acquisition of Matlosana Medical Health Services may be prohibited for the same reasons the Competition Commission blocked Life Healthcare’s bid to acquire...
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...