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Public Health
SAMA warning as number of bogus doctors rises
Fake and unregistered doctors in South Africa are becoming harder to identify, according to the South African Medical Association (SAMA), which told The Citizen...
Call for action as diabetes now leading cause of natural deaths
Tens of thousands of South Africans are dying annually from diabetes-related illnesses, the Diabetes Alliance has revealed after its review of mortality data released...
Pregnancy fears after birth control pill shortages
A contraception shortage in some North West and Gauteng clinics for the past three or four months is increasing women’s concerns about unplanned pregnancies,...
Bran flakes may be classified as ‘junk food’ in UK reforms
The British Government is considering updating rules on what it views as unhealthy food – which could mean popular cereals like bran flakes, frequently...
Ghana asks anti-vaxxer, anti-WHO activist, to address ‘Family Values’ congress
Ghana’s Parliament recently invited an anti-vaccine Kenyan and a conservative Dutch activist campaigning to curtail the WHO to address visiting MPs on “health sovereignty”,...
Why food alone won’t fix childhood stunting – SA study
South Africa has a paradox when it comes to food availability. Its supermarkets are overflowing, and yet it continues to record high levels of...
Tougher action needed for NHSL debt
The astronomical debts owed by provinces to the National Health Service Laboratory Service are endangering patients and threatening the very existence of the NHSL,...
More Tembisa fraud revelations likely after audit records enforcement
In a move that has put the Department of Health in a corner, and which could potentially lead to more damning revelations relating to...
High risk baby’s access to clinic allegedly blocked by vigilantes
The March and March vigilante group has denied any knowledge of a mother and her critically ill four-month-old baby being barred by its members...
World experts call for urgent response, saying Ebola was preventable
Global health leaders, including a number of leading South African health professionals, have signed an open letter to governments in which they urge “an...
Limpopo doctor sells sandwiches to fund patients’ surgeries
A doctor in Burgersfort, Limpopo, is transforming needy patients’ lives by funding their surgeries through the sales of a popular township sandwich, called a...
Health Minister says bid plans to ‘enhance infrastructure' on track
The National Department of Health, which is to submit 11 funding bids to the Budget Facility for Infrastructure (BIF) for projects linked to various...
Why pharmacists still can’t prescribe ARVs after SCA ruling
A Supreme Court of Appeal ruling in October 2025 cleared the way for specially trained and permitted pharmacists to dispense antiretroviral medicines without a...
Big Tobacco uses cigarette sales ploys to push ultra-processed food
Revelations in the latest American Journal of Public Health unravel the strategies used by big tobacco companies – which have acquired food product lines...
Experts flag high depression rates among SA community service doctors
A recent study by Tejil Mora and Gemma Purbrick, published in this month’s SA Medical Journal, uncovers an alarmingly high prevalence of depression among...
SIU net closes in on ‘Syndicate X’ in Tembisa Hospital probe
The Tembisa Hospital probe has netted more fish, with the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) obtaining a preservation order and an interim interdict against a...
No evidence migrants causing hospital overcrowding – SAHRC
The SA Human Rights Commission said there is no evidence or data showing that foreign nationals are causing overcrowding at local hospitals, telling a...
‘Filthy’ Eastern Cape hospital slammed by patient
Complaints alleging unhygienic and filthy conditions at a hospital in Gqeberha have been deflected by the Eastern Cape Department of Health, which said the...
MEC cracks the whip as suppliers vent frustration over long delayed payments
Health officials and healthcare workers came in for sharp rebuke this week for shoddy work; in Gauteng officials were threatened with dismissal if they...
Gauteng Health labelled a 'mafia' after hospital repair scandal exposed
In response to scathing findings by the Public Protector, a committee has been established that will ensure long-delayed repairs at the fire-damaged Charlotte Maxeke...
Limpopo orthopaedic surgeon shortage leaves patients waiting for years
A Limpopo man whose leg was broken in a car crash in February is still waiting for orthopaedic surgery – just one among more...
Concern that White Paper could block migrants from healthcare
South Africa’s revised Immigration White Paper could make it even harder for undocumented migrants to access healthcare and other basic services in this country,...
Gauteng Health fails to vet thousands of childcare staff
The Gauteng Department of Health has not vetted nearly 40 000 staff who work with children, raising serious concerns about child safety and patient...
NICD finds two polio virus strains in Cape wastewater
The Department of Health has said there is no need to panic after the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) detected two polio virus...
NHLS flounders as Health Departments owe R11bn
The total collapse of the National Health Laboratory Service appears imminent if provincial Health Departments owing it nearly R11bn don’t pay their high outstanding...
KZN Health to investigate Pietermaritzburg hospital allegations
A complaint lodged with the South African Human Rights Commission has prompted action from the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health, which has now launched an...
More than 200 KZN ambulances in the sick bay
Nearly half of the entire fleet of KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health ambulances is sitting in workshops awaiting repairs, with diagnostic delays, inflated parts replacement costs...
Reusable catheters safe and shave millions from budget – UK study
Reusable catheters could not only slash hospital costs but are just as safe for patients as single-use ones and don’t increase the risk of...
Respectful maternity care can save South African lives – Lancet
A recent study led by the SA Medical Research Council and UKZN and published in The Lancet Regional Health – Africa, found that improving...
Demand for new HIV jab outstrips supply in African rollout
Demand for the twice-yearly HIV prevention injection lenacapavir is outpacing supply in parts of Africa, with distribution covering a fraction of estimated need and...
LEN jab launch date announced
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has said that the breakthrough long-acting HIV prevention injection Lenacapavir will be available at selected health facilities from 5 June,...
Injection of R65bn for Budget will boost SA’s healthcare
The national Department of Health will revitalise and expand its priorities after being allocated R64.8bn for the 2026/27 financial year, said Health Minister Aaron...
Illegal medicine sales rife amid drug abuse in Eastern Cape
Concern is growing over the cheap and easily available schedule 2 products at many outlets, including spaza shops, in the Eastern Cape – with...
More delays with Grey’s Hospital HVAC repairs
Despite operating theatres at Pietermaritzburg’s Grey’s Hospital having battled with malfunctioning air-conditioners for years, the KZN Department of Health has never declared the repair...
Municipality unable to account for millions paid by hospital
Questions have been raised and a forensic probe launched after more than R17m, apparently paid by Pietermaritzburg’s Northdale Hospital to the Msunduzi municipality for...
Illegal sexual enhancement jabs flagged after organ failure
An alert has been issued by Gauteng Health about the increasing use of unregulated injectable substances marketed for body enhancement and sexual performance, after...
US state sues AI firm over chatbot posing as doctors
The American state of Pennsylvania has sued the artificial intelligence company behind Character.AI to stop its chatbot from posing as doctors, reports Reuters.
Governor Josh...
Water crisis overwhelms Kalafong Hospital
Five days of no water supply at an Atteridgeville hospital took their toll on patients, staff and visitors last week, where not just the...
Patients prefer AI chatbot consult to GP visits – UK study
In startling findings, a UK study has found that one in seven people will use AI chatbots for health advice instead of seeing their...
SA’s ARV programme stagnates in 2025 – new Thembisa estimates
The number of South Africans on antiretroviral treatment remained roughly unchanged from 2024 to 2025, according to new estimates, suggesting that the disruption of...