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News Update
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...
Pay-as-you-go: Evaluators hold SAHPRA to account with encrypted reports
Public health experts working part time for the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) are encrypting their reports in a bid to force...
Average British GP sees a ‘worrying’ drop in hours worked but earnings increase
The average British GP is now working a three-day week after a “significant” drop in working hours but earnings are up to a yearly...
Carletonville Hospital blaze was arson — Gauteng Health MEC
Arson was the cause of the blaze that destroyed equipment worth R20m in a storeroom at the Carletonville Hospital in February, according to the...
Speculation of Gauteng 'Mafia' link to murder of Babita Deokaran
The murder of Gauteng Health whistle-blower Babita Deokaran in August may have been linked to a politically connected Gauteng mafia, Daily Maverick reports. And...
MSD to seek SAHPRA approval for its promising COVID-19 pill
Pharmaceutical manufacturer MSD has confirmed it is to seek authorisation for its COVID-19 treatment molnupiravir from SA’s medicines regulator. If approved, the pill, molnupiravir,...
Mediclinic and Life Healthcare mandate vaccination for staff and service providers
Private hospital groups Mediclinic and Life Healthcare have introduced COVID-19 vaccination policies for staff and service providers, joining an increasing number of JSE-listed companies...
IFP demands that KZN institutes measures to protect under-fire paramedics
The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) in KwaZulu-Natal has challenged the KZN MEC for Health, Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu, to tell the public what plans are in...
Phaahla: Third wave of pandemic lasted 120-days but is now over
Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla says that South Africa has now exited the 120-day long third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It is with a...
Gauteng Health MEC: 143 babies abandoned at Gauteng hospitals in 2020
Last year, 143 babies were abandoned at Gauteng's public hospitals and currently there are 36 infants abandoned at different hospitals in the province, Health...
South African medical schemes: the biggest winners and losers in 2020
The Council for Medical Schemes’ latest annual report shows that the Discovery Health Medical Scheme (DHMS) remains the biggest in the country, despite having...
HPCSA disciplinary committee rulings for the third-quarter of 2021
A doctor fined for sexual impropriety, another for a spurious medical certificate, and a third for failing to diagnose herpes; a dentist fined for...
SA’s digital vaccine certificate launched without fanfare
SA’s digital COVID-19 vaccine certificate, which features a scannable QR code, has been launched by the Department of Health, reports Business Insider. The COVID-19...
COVID-level relaxation: More about elections than science, say sceptics
The decision to move South Africa back to alert level one after a 130-day COVID-19 third wave, has been questions by some medical experts,...