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News Update
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...
Hospitals’ audit unrelated to Deokaran’s report: Health Department
A recent random compliance audit of Gauteng Hospitals, including Tembisa, was not linked to whistle-blower Babita Deokaran’s report into the splurging of R850m from...
COVID jab for SA’s high-risk 5-11-year-olds
SA’s Paediatric Association is expected to welcome the Health Department’s decision to offer COVID-19 vaccinations to high-risk children aged 5-11, and those susceptible to...
Health professionals targeted by formula milk companies to push products
A local expert says there is an urgent need to strengthen lactation education and knowledge of breastfeeding benefits, suggesting health science students could be...
Health Department launches online system for medical recruits
Medical recruits are now able to register online for 2023 internships and community service after the Department of Health (DOH) opened its new digital...
Inhaled COVID booster vaccine gets the nod in China
The national Medical Products Administration of China has granted CanSinoBiologics approval for its inhaled vaccine to be used as a booster dose, reports BBC...
Children's deaths in The Gambia linked to either paracetamol or E.coli
The Government of The Gambia is investigating the recent deaths of dozens of children from kidney failure – 28 deaths by early August but...
SAFA chief medic threatened after concussed footballer taken off field
After SA Football Association (SAFA) chief medical officer Dr Thulani Ngwenya ran on to the field in Yaoundé, Cameroon to overrule medical staff and...
Multi-billion rand strategy from WHO to eradicate Africa’s meningitis by 2030
The World Health Organisation (WHO) predicts that, between now and 2030, about R25.5bn is needed to complete its regional plan to eradicate meningitis in...
Device to detect breast cancer at home wins British design award
A tool for DIY breast cancer detection, designed by two recent graduates, has won the UK James Dyson Award that celebrates, encourages and inspires...
Bara Hospital surgery crisis as waiting list balloons to more than 11 000
The waiting list for surgery at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital has ballooned to the extent that there are now 11 194 patients awaiting operations,...
Medipos threatens to cut SAPO medical aid over R700m debt
The South African Post Office (SAPO), which is technically bankrupt, owes the Medipos medical aid scheme R700m for workers’ contributions, and is likely to...
Ramathuba concedes state’s failure to prevent health system collapse
Limpopo Health MEC Phophi Ramathuba has acknowledged that leaders could do more to prevent hospitals from becoming overburdened.
In a virtual interview with Zimbabwean journalist...
Charlotte Maxeke hospital blaze an act of arson – forensic report
A report by a senior SAPS forensic investigator has confirmed what many suspected: that the 16 April 2021 fire leading to the closure of...