Tuesday, 19 March, 2024
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Theatre lists cut as Western Cape hospital battle slashed budgets

The impact of national budget cuts on services has been flagged by the Western Cape’s tertiary hospitals, which have highlighted the restriction on filling...

Curbing antibiotic use reduces AMR – report

A decline in antibiotic-resistant bacteria has been observed in European countries that have curbed the use of antibiotics in both animals and humans, according...

Medics struggled to break death news during Covid – SA study

Breaking bad news is now an integral part of most healthcare professional training, but it’s important to teach how to do it using different...

Gauteng plan to review doctors' overtime pay policy a 'disaster'

The decision by the Gauteng Department of Health to “review” the policy of overtime for doctors – a requirement of the job to ensure...

More money to hire doctors but health sector still under pressure

The good news is that National Treasury has made good on Health Minister Joe Phaahla’s promise that the government would find the money to...

About-turn as Phaahla says jobless doctors will be hired – by April

In a complete turnaround, and in contrast to previous statements and declarations by the National Department of Health that it has no money, on...

Western Cape experts appeal for end to health budget cuts

An open letter signed by more than 16 academic heads of departments and nearly 1 000 senior clinicians, nursing leaders and health workers in...

Pioneering 30-year SA research offers insight into key health changes

In 1992, a group of academics from the University of the Witwatersrand introduced a health and socio-demographic surveillance system in remote, rural South Africa...

Doctors without jobs as health purse tightens

With the number of unemployed recently qualified doctors standing at almost 700, Health Minister Joe Phaahla this week said provinces are unable to afford...

Diet pills and laxatives abused by teens globally, meta-analysis finds

Non-prescription diet pills, diuretics and laxatives are being widely used by adolescents – especially girls – worldwide, say researchers, who warn that the products...

Dismal scores for SA public health in global citizens survey

Only about one-third of South Africans have confidence in the overall health system, including primary public services such as mental health, maternity and paediatrics,...

SA’s male murder statistics a health crisis, says SAMRC

The South African Medical Research Council says an urgent national response is needed to probe the high murder rate of men – 87% –...

WHO warns that world could lose malaria fight as cases rise

A new report from WHO says the world risks lose the fight against malaria, as cases rose by around 5m year-on-year in 2022, exceeding...

Childhood jabs at risk as medical and religious freedom wins ground

Medical and religious freedom lobbying – bouyed by successes in overturning coronavirus vaccine mandates in some areas – has led to an increasing number...

Long-term HIV/TB Eshowe project closes after major achievements

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) will this month close its long-term HIV and TB project in Eshowe and Mbongolwane, ending the organisation’s more...

Bleach ineffective in killing fatal hospital superbug – UK research

Liquid bleach does not kill off a hospital superbug that can cause fatal infections, found British researchers, saying it is no more effective than...

Weight-loss drugs frenzy risks return of body size stigma

As another weight-loss drug was this week approved in the US, adding to the tsunami of demand for the medicines, there is concern that...

Hospital CEOs warn of cash run-out as budget cuts bite

The CEOs of the Western Cape’s three academic hospitals have warned that, because of severe funding cuts, they could run out of cash in...

Concern as diabetes deaths double in past decade

Deaths due to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are rising in South Africa, the increase being particularly startling because overall, the country has been recording a...

How the state is working to reduce stockouts

Over the past 10 years, the National Health Department has rolled out a range of electronic surveillance systems to monitor medicine stocks throughout healthcare...

Chronic diseases on the rise, warns Stats SA

Stats SA has warned that deaths from chronic medical conditions have increased, its latest report showing that mortality linked to cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes...

Should nurses be allowed to hand out psychiatric drugs?

Because people with HIV are at greater risk of mental health problems like depression or anxiety – which could stop them from taking their...

Lessons for NHI in world's largest health study?

A study being billed as the world's largest, and which hopes to address the failings of the UK's National Health Service (NHS) and reduce...

Corruption fears as Kenyan President signs UHC Bill

Kenyan President William Ruto has approved controversial legislation in the biggest shake-up of the health sector in more than 20 years, with a new...

Vaping scourge among children prompts long-term health effects study

Vaping has become a scourge among children that’s as alarming as cigarette smoking used to be, both in SA and worldwide, with experts saying...

Top health experts rally behind ousted Eastern Cape Health boss

A group of doctors and activists has launched a campaign and signed a petition demanding the reinstatement of Eastern Cape Health HoD Rolene Wagner,...

Eastern Cape Health boss under fire in 'political clean-out'

Eastern Cape director-general for Health, Dr Rolene Wagner, who has eliminated R1bn in previous unauthorised expenditure and saved billions more in crippling provincial medico-legal...

High TB death rate, a worry – Phaahla

The Department of Health has raised concerns over the death rate among TB patients in the country – the WHO estimated 56 000 deaths...

Proposed budget cuts disastrous for health sector, activists warn

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana ruffled feathers last week with his letter to government departments directing a freeze on posts and other cost-cutting measures. MedicalBrief...

Free State worst performer in ARV dispensing, survey finds

The Free State is performing abysmally when it comes to dispensing ARVs, the percentage of HIV patients receiving a three to six-month supply of...

Bara stillbirth rate 17 times the national average – Wits study

Neonatal deaths at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital were as much as 12 times the national average, while the stillbirth rate among mothers whose pregnancy...

MTN cuts services to Eastern Cape Health, Afrox threatens to suspend

MTN last month joined the list of service providers to temporarily withdraw services because the Eastern Cape Department of Health failed to pay its...

UCT team develops device to speed up STI diagnosis

A research group from the University of Cape Town (UCT) is developing a user-friendly technology to rapidly detect bacterial vaginosis (BV) and associated genital...

Frustrated Free State community closes clinic

Community members in a section of Botshabelo in the Free State closed their local clinic last Wednesday in protest against a staff shortage at...

Top HIV experts call for PrEP to be prescribed by all nurses and midwives

With 1.5m global incident HIV infections in 2021 – of which 210 000 were in South Africa – there is an urgent need to...

Violent attacks prompt special training for Gauteng healthcare staff

Violence against staff – doctors, nurses, paramedics – and patients, has become an occupational hazard at government hospitals and clinics in South Africa. After...

Experts call for hepatitis B birth-dose vaccine

Despite one in 20 South Africans being infected with the hepatitis B virus – which causes about 820 000 deaths a year globally and...

Lack of supplies and care for desperate SA stoma patients

The ongoing shortage of colostomy pouches in the public health system, where some desperate patients resort to plastic bags glued and taped to their...

Free State infant malnutrition and deaths from starvation on the rise

Free State infants are still dying from a lack of healthy food, with 21 having died from severe acute malnutrition (SAM) between April and...

Germany eyes SA-trained nurses – with government's blessing

Government is in talks with Germany to employ SA-trained nurses to fill vacancies in Europe’s largest economy, while, at home, the shortage of nurses,...