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Health Department owes millions to medical equipment suppliers
The Department of Health’s tardiness in settling its bills to hospital equipment suppliers is leading to a massive rise in small companies’ overdrafts and...
Petition urges improved care for SA’s diabetic children
A new petition launched by SA Diabetes Advocacy, in partnership with several national diabetes organisations, is calling on the National Department of Health (NDoH)...
NHLS must hand over cyber attack info, says regulator
The National Information Regulator has demanded details on the protection of personal information that was in place when a cyber attack knocked out the...
Autopsy backlogs delay Free State burials
The Pheko family in the Free State finally buried their son and brother last week after waiting three months for an autopsy to be...
Gauteng Health denies disease outbreak tied to maggots
The Gauteng Health Department has denied accusations of a disease outbreak in Pretoria North linked to maggots and staphylococcus infection – and claims on...
SA plan to boost TB testing
A plan to escalate the TB fight by boosting the number of people testing for the disease to 5m over the next 12 months...
Waning immunity, low jab rate, trigger SA diphtheria cases
Over the past 14 months, South Africa has experienced its highest rise in diphtheria cases in 30 years, with doctors attributing this to waning...
Hand, foot and mouth disease cases surge in Eastern Cape
Cases of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) have risen to 78 in the Eastern Cape, with the provincial Department of Health saying most...
NHS applies brakes to overseas nurses, doctors
Nearly half of the doctors employed by NHS England are non-British, while a quarter of the declining nurse numbers come from other countries, with...
No clinic in 30 years for Limpopo village
A village in Limpopo’s Vhembe district has had no clinic for 30 years and appears unlikely to be getting one any time soon –...
Minister in talks with funders to address funding shortfalls
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said talks had begun with local and international foundations on funding to fill the budget shortfall in its HIV/Aids treatment...
Helen Joseph Hospital woes symptom of a bigger problem
The findings of an investigation by the Health Ombudsman into conditions at the Helen Joseph Hospital have confirmed some allegations by former broadcaster Thomas...
Gauteng Health teetering under financial strain
A health worker has described a “point of no return” in Gauteng’s public health services as prolonged freezing of posts and the potential loss...
Provinces owe billions to struggling National Health Laboratory Service
The National Health Laboratory Service is owed R8.9bn in unpaid accounts by various provinces – while also battling staff shortages and huge backlogs in...
Teen footballer dies after being turned away from clinic
The family of Katlego Ledwaba (16) and members of his football club in Zebediela, Limpopo, are blaming nurses at the local clinic for his...
Nurses ignore teen mum who gives birth to twins alone
An Ekurhuleni hospital has denied ignoring the pleas for help from a 15-year-old girl who gave birth to twins on her own. Neither of...
Snake invasion closes Hillcrest clinic
Multiple snake sightings – including of a black mamba – at a clinic in Ngcolosi, near Hillcrest, have raised safety concerns and forced it...
More work vital for HIV campaign’s success, say experts
Amid major disruptions caused by aid cuts from the United States Government, the National Department of Health aims to enrol an additional 1.1m more...
Kennedy's conflicting advice leave US doctors frustrated
Doctors and medical experts in the United States are irate about the mixed messaging and controversial advice being dispensed by Health & Human Services...
Mpox cases rise to 28 in SA
The National Health Department has announced that three new cases of mpox have been confirmed in South Africa – all from Ekurhuleni.
The first case,...
US Supreme Court unblocks Trump foreign funding freeze
Research and health projects stalled by the abrupt cutting off of US funding, may be in for a reprieve following the US Supreme Court...
Long-term strategy vital to combat cholera threat in Africa
Southern and eastern African countries are facing a resurgence of cholera, threatening worldwide progress toward eliminating the disease, a recent analysis has said.
The study,...
Rising global obesity presents 'unparalleled' health threat – Lancet report
Overweight and obesity rates in adults more than doubled between 1990 and 2021, and, warn experts, this is unlikely to change, with more than...
Girl (12) on ventilator in critical condition from vaping habit
A 12-year-old girl in Thailand who vaped for two years – without her parents’ knowledge – has been diagnosed with severe lung damage and...
Hand, foot and mouth disease spreads to East London
The Eastern Cape Department of Health has reported 13 cases of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) cases in the Buffalo City metropolitan municipality,...
FDA green-lights rapid-acting insulin biosimilar product
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Merilog (insulin-aspart-szjj) as a biosimilar to Novolog (insulin aspart) for the improvement of glycaemic control...
Who will plug the US funding gap?
With reality setting in – that the United States is drastically diminishing its foreign assistance to developing countries – an urgent conversation is starting among...
Trump’s aid cuts halt crucial SA-led HIV vaccine trials
Critical South African-led HIV research, the outcome of which could affect millions of people worldwide, has been stopped in its tracks at a vital...
Landmark deal jumpstarts Africa’s vaccine production
In a deal inked in Cairo last week and backed by a $1.2bn investment from Gavi, the vaccine alliance, an end-to-end mRNA vaccine production platform...
Grade 3 girl dies after eating toxic chips
A seven-year-old Brakpan girl has died from multiple organ failure, allegedly linked to a packet of chips contaminated with a deadly insecticide that was...
Union calls for HRC to probe into ‘human rights violations’ in KZN
The Public Servants Association (PSA) wants the Public Protector and the Human Rights Commission (HRC) to investigate a list of alleged health violations, including...
Hand, foot and mouth disease on the rise at Durban schools
The number of confirmed reports of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) in Durban schools has more than tripled in a week, with the...
125-year-old Eastern Cape hospital in dire straits
The shocking and dilapidated state of a rural Eastern Cape hospital that was built in 1900 led to angry locals protesting outside the facility...
UK to slash funding contribution to Gavi
The prediction that Britain is likely to cut funding to global vaccination group Gavi – which has inoculated more than 1bn children in developing...
SA veering off course in diabetes management
Roughly 60 000 South Africans die annually – before they turn 70 – from diseases that are not caused by an infection like tuberculosis...
Global shortage of oxygen a growing concern, say experts
Oxygen is vital to many medical procedures. But a safe, affordable supply is severely lacking around the world, according to a new report.
At the...
Still no CEOs for Eastern Cape hospitals
Eastern Cape Health MEC Ntandokazi Capa has failed to appoint CEOs for major state hospitals within the first six months of her term, as...
Union accuses Umlazi hospital of human rights abuses
The Public Servant’s Association (PSA) has called on the Human Rights Commission to intervene in a crisis at Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital in Umlazi,...
Gauteng hospitals postpone elective surgeries
A number of state hospitals in Gauteng have put elective surgeries on the back burner until the next financial year, but this will only...
Pietermaritzburg ambulance shortage at crisis point
A chronic shortage of state ambulances in Pietermaritzburg means critically ill patients are being left stranded and paramedics are fearing for their lives, with...