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News Update
MP opens criminal charge against medical schemes
The medical schemes at the centre of the alleged racial bias controversy have denied any discrimination and rejected allegations of fraud or criminal conduct,...
SA HIV programme future unclear as Pepfar dodges $400m cut
The US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar) is to be spared a $400m funding cut that formed part of President Donald Trump’s...
DA questions Gauteng health board appointees
The DA is demanding that Gauteng Health MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko account for at least eight ANC Youth League (ANCYL) leaders appointed to boards of...
Health MEC denies role in sacking radio DJ over migrant protests
KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane has denied allegations that she pressured radio station Vuma FM into terminating the employment of veteran presenter and activist...
Mpox cases rise in South Africa, Mozambique
Laboratory-confirmed cases of mpox are gradually rising in the country, South African health authorities have warned, after two recent cases were confirmed in Gauteng...
Man killed after being slammed into MRI machine by magnetic force
A 61-year-old man has died after being sucked into a MRI machine at an medical centre in New York while he was wearing a...
‘Three-parent’ babies in landmark technique progressing well
Eight healthy babies who were born in Britain with the DNA of three people in a “scientific tour-de-force” are doing well and reaching their milestones,...
FDA approves new lung cancer pill
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted accelerated approval to a first-of-its-kind pill for non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
The medication, called sunvozertinib and...
More than 14m children unvaccinated in 2024
United Nations health officials have said more than 14m children did not receive a single vaccine last year – about the same as the...
US faces doctor shortage after Trump visa restrictions
Although the Trump administration has softened its travel bans – lifting the J-1 visa ban last month – its pausing of visas for citizens...
HRT supplier sanctioned after safety fears
A major British supplier of menopausal HRT treatments has been sanctioned after whistle-blowers claimed patients were being put at risk, and alleging, among other...
Sarepta halts Duchenne therapy shipments
Sarepta Therapeutics will comply with an FDA request last week to halt shipments of its Duchenne muscular dystrophy gene therapy, an about-face after the...
US slammed for plan to burn $10m contraceptives for overseas women
The Trump administration has decided to destroy contraceptives worth $9.7m rather than send them abroad to women in need, reports The Guardian, in a move that...
Penicillin jab recall jeopardises syphilis gains in the United States
Pfizer has warned of a possible shortage of Bicillin L-A, a long-acting injection of the antibiotic penicillin used for treating syphilis during pregnancy, after...
Covid was a Chinese bioweapons research project, US expert claims
A report by a US Air Force officer and bioweapons expert has suggested, in a new report, that the Covid-19 pandemic could have resulted...
China widens children’s lead poisoning probe
China has expanded the probe into a kindergarten lead poisoning scandal in which more than 200 children were found with abnormally high levels of...
More than 30 poisoned from fake Botox in UK
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has said 38 cases of botulism poisoning have been recorded in England in the past six weeks after...
Dire handwashing habits of hospital loo users – UK-Danish study
British researchers – in a 19-week study in partnership with Bispebjerg Hospital in Denmark – have found that almost one of every two people...
UK doctor jailed for biker’s death after reckless overtaking
A doctor in Britain whose dangerous driving caused the death of a motorcyclist has been sentenced to three years behind bars and had his...
New injectable HIV drug could be much cheaper, study shows
A recent analysis has shown that the long-acting injection for HIV prevention – lenacapavir – could be made for as little as $25 per...
Medical schemes' algorithms under scrunity after racial profiling findings
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi is pushing for more transparency around the software, algorithms and AI programs used by medical schemes to monitor claims from...
Treasury bails out HIV/Aids projects blindsided by Pepfar cuts
While Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi’s recent tabling of the 2025/26 Health Budget vote and the spending priorities showed efforts to plug some funding...
NDoH considers vaccine to protect infants from RSV
A respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine to protect infants from severe illness is available in the private sector although not yet in public clinics,...
Probe into Clinical Associates' status, finally
Poorly paid and under-recognised Clinical Associates, introduced 15 years ago to help address the shortage of healthcare workers (especially in rural areas), have finally...
Regulator slashes approval time for local drugmakers
The SA Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) has pledged to expedite its evaluation of locally manufactured drugs and vaccines by prioritising the registration of...
Premier promises 50 news posts for jobless KZN doctors
A three-week protest by unemployed doctors has ended in KwaZulu-Natal after Premier Thamsanqa Ntuli pledged to create more than 50 new posts in the...
SA cancer drugs not linked to Lancet findings – SAHPRA
The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) has clarified that recent findings published in The Lancet about substandard cancer drugs have no bearing...
Staff accused of helping vigilantes block migrants from clinics
Gauteng Health has denied any of its staff are involved in helping vigilante groups bar clinic access to foreigners, or turning away patients –...
Procurement boost for physiotherapy sector
The South African physiotherapy industry has received approval from the Competition Commission for centralised procurement for the next five years, enabling the sector to...
Top 10 Discovery claims last year totalled R70m
Ten of the highest member claims paid by Discovery Health Medical Scheme (DHMS) in 2024 totalled R70.5m, the highest (R9.6m) going to a 75-year-old...
Eastern Cape Health official back in court for alleged qualifications fraud
Seasoned Eastern Cape Health communications officer Sizwe Kupelo, who appeared in the East London Commercial Crimes Court last week, has pleaded not guilty to...
Gauteng’s new multi-million-rand forensic lab still incomplete
Johannesburg’s much anticipated new state-of-the-art forensic laboratory, initially budgeted with a price tag of R588m but now hovering around R703m, is still only 98%...
US measles cases hit 33-year high
Measles cases in the United States have hit a 33-year high, with 1 288 confirmed infections in 39 states, according to the US Centres...
Plague kills US man in first death since 2007
An American living in northern Arizona has died from pneumonic plague – previously known as “The Black Death” – health officials said last week.
CBS reports that...
Court interpreter delivers baby by phone light in holding cell
A quick-thinking interpreter managed to deliver a detainee’s baby by cellphone light during a power outage at the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court in Katlehong...
European Union to stockpile vital medical supplies for future crises
The European Union plans to stockpile critical medical equipment and vaccines in case of future health crises and to set up a network to...
NIH restores grants to SA scientists
The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has – without explanation – lifted a hold on payments for scores of existing grants to South...
Bullying of medical interns a ‘silent epidemic’ – KwaZulu-Natal study
Workplace bullying within the medical profession is a silent epidemic, with junior doctors being the most vulnerable, KwaZulu-Natal researchers have found.
Writing in the SA...
Activists deny migrants access to hospitals and clinics
The National Department of Health has condemned the action taken by some groups to prevent foreign nationals from accessing essential healthcare services around the...
Task team probes staff crisis at Livingstone Hospital
A task team from the Eastern Cape Department of Health is to present a report shortly on the staffing haemorrhage from Gqeberha’s Livingstone Hospital and...