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Tuesday, 18 February, 2025
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EC's COVID-19 project management unit head has controversial past

The team deployed to rectify the Eastern Cape Health Department’s disastrous COVID-19 response is being led by Sibongile Zungu, who has a contentious past...

Doctor and former Springbok dies from COVID-19 complications

Medical doctor and former Springbok wing Corra Dirksen has passed away from COVID-19 complications, reports News24. He was 82. Dirksen was still practicing his...

A day in the life of a Health Minister, in a time of pandemic

South Africa's Dr Zweli Mkhize diarises a typical day in the life of a Health Minister, in the days of pandemic, writing in The...

KZN contingent on Mkhize's Advisory Committee on COVID-19

Nine medical experts from Kwazulu-Natal are part of the high-level Ministerial Advisory Committee (MAC) which was formed to help steer government’s response to the...

How the 'perfect family doctor' got away with over 250 murders

Twenty years after he was convicted, a new BBC documentary examines why it took so long to catch Britain's most prolific serial killer, Dr...

Controversial acting DG for Health steps aside for new man

Acting director-general of Health, Dr Anban Pillay, leaves under a cloud of controversy, to be replaced on 1 June by a new DG who...

New director-general of Health Department has a controversial past

The Health Department has announced the appointment of South African National Aids Council (Sanac) CEO Dr Sandile Buthelezi as the department’s incoming director-general. Buthelezi's...

Health Sciences University defends appointment of new vice-chancellor

The Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University (SMU) has defended the appointment of Professor Peter Mbati as vice-chancellor, despite looming legal action, reports News24. "Prof...

Chair of SA's medical schemes regulator succumbs to COVID-19

The chair of the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS), Clarence Mini, has died from COVID-19, Business Day reports the regulator’s spokesperson confirmed. The report says...

Fauci: 'Pinned between Donald Trump and the American people'

Aged 79, Anthony S Fauci has run the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for 36 years, through six administrations and a long...

SA-born doctor leading Africa's COVID-19 fight

Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organisation’s regional director for Africa, has become the continent’s public face of the fight against the pandemic, writes...

Imperial vs Oxford: Covid-19 rivalry may have roots in a sex smear two decades ago  

Starkly contrasting studies from Imperial College and Oxford University into the likely trajectory of COVID-19 has led to a furious public dispute, writes The...

Ireland's prime minister gets back to work as part-time doctor in state health service

Ireland's Prime Minister Leo Varadkar will go back to work as a doctor to help out during the coronavirus outbreak, reports Euro News. The...

SA's healthcare workers at the frontline in the war on COVID-19

While the rest of the country is corralled behind closed doors, South Africa's COVID-19 heroes are at the frontline in the war. The Times...

New CEO promises to turn notorious Mamelodi Hospital into '5-star' institution

Dr Naing Soe, the new CEO of Pretoria's notorious Mamelodi Hospital, promises to turn the premises into “a five-star” establishment. Mamelodi Hospital in Pretoria made...

Australian doctors want ministerial apology for 'shaming' GP with COVID-19

Doctors in Australia have demanded an apology from a state health minister who sharply criticised a GP for working while unaware he had coronavirus....

'London Patient' steps out of the shadows

A year after the “London Patient” was introduced to the world as only the second person to be cured of HIV, The New York...

Young SA doctor remains in China to help fight COVID-19

For SA doctor Brett Lyndall Singh the bond developed with China will not allow him to pack his bags at a time when it...

Surgeon whistleblower of SARS pandemic under house arrest

The Chinese military surgeon who exposed the government’s 2003 cover-up of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic has been under de facto house...

CTN doctor's 'moral burnout' leads to free cancer surgery

Faced with “moral burnout”, Dr Liana Roodt founded Project Flamingo in 2010 to help provide cancer surgery to those who cannot afford it, but...

Moeti reappointed head of WHO's Africa region

TThe World Health Organisation executive board has formally appointed Dr Matshidiso Moeti — Botswana national but South African-born — for a second, five-year term...

New WC Health head takes a different tack from DA provincial govt on NHI Bill

The new head of Western Cape Health appears to hold a different view on the NHI Bill than that of his political masters in...

UCT gets a new Health Sciences dean

Associate Professor Lionel Green-Thompson has been appointed as the new dean of the faculty of health sciences at the University of Cape Town. Green-Thompson...

A one-sentence TV appearance routed the anti-vaxxers

A single sentence during a TV talk show catapulted Italian virologist Roberto Burioni to instant media celebrity status and made him the scourge of...

TB research professor awarded Oppenheimer Fellowship

Africa’s premier research fellowship has been awarded to Professor Val Mizrahi, director of the Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine at the University...

Astronaut's blood clot is treated during NASA mission

When for the first time an astronaut in space had a deep vein thrombosis (DVT), the US space agency called in an outside specialist...

Medical student receives coveted Stellenbosch honour

A medical student who achieved distinctions in every theory exam over six years was awarded Stellenbosch University’s top student honour.  Jennifer Kate van Heerden, the...

New chief for SA's Military Health Service

Lieutenant-General Zola Dabula has been appointed as the new surgeon-general of the SA Military Health Service, reports eNCA. Dabula has three decades of experience...

98-year-old French doctor still practising and rues Dr Google

When French doctor Christian Chenay saw his first patients in 1951, penicillin was state of the art. Reuters Health reports that now 98 years...

Pioneering UK scientist awarded compensation after 13 years of litigation

Professor Ian Shanks, the scientist who invented pioneering technology to test blood sugar levels, has been awarded £2m in compensation by the UK's highest...

SA film tells the stories of one of the rarest conditions in medicine

South African director/producer Odette Schwegler has produced a film which documents stories of people living with fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP), one the rarest conditions...

Awards to boost drug discovery for Africa-endemic diseases

Eight innovators from seven African countries have been announced as the inaugural awardees of the Grand Challenges (GC) Africa drug discovery scheme, each receiving...

Staff at deep rural Madwaleni Hospital win prestigious awards

Seven years ago, rural Madwaleni Hospital in former Transkei was going through hard times, with only one doctor available. Today the hospital has greatly improved and two...

Ugandan is the first woman to head troubled UNAIDS

Ugandan Winifred “Winnie” Byanyima is the new executive director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, after the previous incumbent left accused of serious...

International award for SA hand surgeon

South African hand surgeon Professor Ulrich Mennen was honoured with the prestigious Pioneer of Hand Surgery award at the 14th Triennial Congress of the...

Bloemfontein doctor whose patients pay what they can afford

It's not often that patients have the luxury of paying what they can afford when they visit a doctor. But, says a News24 report,...

Former Coca-Cola CEO gives $1m for UCT medicines research

It’s more than 50 years since Neville Isdell graduated from the University of Cape Town (UCT), but he’s remained forever grateful. And now, reports...

COHSASA CEO elected to international quality and safety body

The Council for Health Service Accreditation of Southern Africa (COHSASA) CEO, Jacqui Stewart, has been elected to the International Academy of Quality & Safety...

Nurse retires after 35 years of service and not one day of sick leave

A nurse, who helped care for thousands of people's wounds at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, has retired after 35 years – and...

KZN professor receives Royal Geographical Society award for health policy work

University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) research professor and senior faculty member of the Africa Health Research Institute (AHRI), Frank Tanser, has been awarded a prestigious...