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News Update
AU calls in its members to lift travel bans on SA and its neighbours
The African Union has called on member states to urgently rescind travel bans imposed on South Africa and its neighbours, after the detection of...
SAMATU complains that DoH discriminates against Cuban-trained doctors
The South African Medical Association Trade Union (SAMATU) has written to Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla, complaining about his department's continued discrimination against Cuban-trained...
More than a quarter million of South Africa's vaccine doses wasted
South Africa has lost 274 312 COVID vaccine doses to wastage, equating to an estimated R83m in lost money through avoidable waste, including damages,...
Gauteng Health to dump almost R13m of ‘expired’ sanitiser
As Gauteng Health Department workers brace themselves for an imminent COVID-19 fourth wave, there are calls for an investigation into expired bottles of sanitiser...
SA’s surgical backlog: 14,000 patients wait two years for 40-minute cataract procedure
After nearly two years of COVID-19, which has increased backlog of postponed non-essential surgery, people with benign conditions are now becoming emergency cases, health...
MSF takes SAHPRA to task for delay in meningitis drug approval
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has criticised the SA Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) for delaying the registration of an anti-fungal medicine which could help...
Charlotte Maxeke Hospital still ‘a death trap’ for staff and patients
No beds for new admissions, oncology patients who are moved at risk of infection and are receiving suboptimal care, and patient overflows sent out...
Next pandemic could be more lethal than COVID, AstraZeneca creator warns
Future pandemics could be even more lethal than COVID-19 so the lessons learned from this outbreak must not be squandered, Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert,...
SAHPRA 'will destroy’ Defence Force’s R215m of illegal Cuban drugs
The SA Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) will destroy 970,000 vials of the drug Heberon — touted as a wonder cure for COVID-19 —...
SA medical students assaulted by Cuban police were partying – Dhlomo
Deputy Health Minister Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo told MPs that South African medical students, who were assaulted by police in Cuba early last month, had...
Aspen to produce its own branded vaccine for Africa, in J&J deal
Aspen Pharmacare, SAʼs biggest pharmaceutical manufacturer, has announced a groundbreaking and non-binding agreement with Johnson & Johnson to produce its COVID-19 vaccines under licence...
Swiss voters back COVID-19 pass law in ill-tempered referendum
With new COVID cases in Switzerland seven times higher than they were in mid-October, Swiss voters have firmly backed the law behind the country’s...
Kenya’s COVID clampdown: Extensive restrictions on the unvaccinated
New national COVID preventative measures, such as proof of vaccination, have prompted anger in Kenya, where fewer than 5% of the country’s citizens have...
England’s ‘demoralised and broken’ GPs vote for industrial action
An overwhelming 80% of England’s GPs have voted for limited forms of industrial action in protest against the government’s drive to force them to...
Discovery’s mandatory jabs policy sends staff vaccination rates soaring
The COVID-19 vaccination rate among Discoveryʼs SA employees has risen from barely a fifth to 94% in the three months since it announced plans...
Business for SA wants ‘urgent’ restrictions on the unvaccinated
Business for South Africa (B4SA) is calling for a rapid move to restrict access to public indoor areas that are not required for emergency...
HPCSA disciplinary committee rulings for October 2021
A doctor fined R50,000 for running a practice ill-equipped to deal with emergencies and another suspended for five years for failing to investigate or...
Rage across Europe: COVID lockdowns trigger riots and police fire
Europe is in the grip of violent backlashes against new COVID restrictions imposed to deal with a record number of new cases on the...
Austria becomes first EU country to make vaccines compulsory
Austria is the first European country to order its whole population to get vaccinated or face stiff fines, as well as having reimposed a...
WHO: COVID deaths in Europe could top 2.2m by March
The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday (22 November) a further 700,000 people could die from COVID-19 in Europe by March, taking the...
SAHPRA considering application for COVID booster shots
South Africans who have been vaccinated with the two-dose Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine might soon be able to get a third dose as a booster...
FDA and CDC authorise COVID booster shots for all US adults
Both the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have given the nod for fully vaccinated Americans aged...
NICD: COVID cases on the rise but ‘hard to say’ whether a full-blown resurgence
COVID-19 infections are on the rise, as are hospital admissions and deaths from the virus, according to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD),...
DoH launches probe into noodles following deaths of 5 children
The national Department of Health has initiated an urgent investigation into cases of possible poisoning in Mpumalanga, Eastern Cape and Gauteng, after the deaths...
Hundreds of cancelled Gauteng surgeries because of laundry shortages
No clean linen had led to surgeries being called at nine Gauteng public hospitals this year, reports News24. Mamelodi was the worst affected hospital...
Higher rates for Old Mutual’s new unvaxxed customers
Old Mutual will not be charging its unvaccinated current customers higher premiums – for now. This comes after the life insurance group announced a...
Johannesburg protest march over neglect of cancer patients
Protesters marched through the streets of Jo’burg on Tuesday (23 November) to hand over a memorandum to the Health MEC demanding the government stop...
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),...