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Public Health
When will SA take the prevention of chronic HBV infection seriously?
South Africa bears a significant burden of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, and a notable prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) among pregnant...
ChatGPT Health fails to ID emergencies – US study
Although ChatGPT Health performed well in textbook emergencies like stroke or severe allergic reactions, it regularly misses the need for medical urgent care and...
SCA dismisses RAF appeal over hospital claims rulings
The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has dismissed with costs an application by the Road Accident Fund (RAF) to appeal a judgment, slamming the...
SAHRC orders Northern Cape Health to fix mental hospital mess
The SA Human Rights Commission has given the Northern Cape Department of Health 60 days to sort out the appalling state of the Northern...
Cipla joins legal challenge as Aids drug tender row escalates
The Department of Health’s controversial Aids drug tender is under fresh attack, after Cipla filed an application in the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) last...
SA sanitary pad suppliers probed after study finds harmful chemicals
The National Consumer Commission (NCC) has opened an investigation into nine sanitary pad and panty liner suppliers, after a University of the Free State...
MEC and paramedics clash looms in defamation case
A legal showdown between KwaZulu-Natal Transport and Human Settlements MEC Siboniso Duma and ALS Paramedics is expected to take place in the KZN High...
Lifestyles fuel rising hypertension among Gauteng young adults
Gauteng Health has warned of a rise in high blood pressure diagnoses among the province’s young adults, amid deteriorating lifestyle habits, reports The Citizen.
Rising...
US proposes expensive alternative to WHO
America’s Health & Human Services department has proposed spending $2bn a year to re-create systems the country previously accessed through the WHO at a...
GEMS given seven days to respond to union demands on steep hikes
The Government Employees Medical Scheme (GEMS) has seven days to respond to the Public Servants Association’s demands to withdraw the 9.8% contribution hike for...
Another negligence claim – R6.4m – pummels Eastern Cape Health
In the second financial blow this month to the Eastern Cape Department of Health, the provincial Health MEC has been ordered to pay more...
Mother wants answers for 14-year-old’s death after childbirth complications
A heartbroken mother from Grassy Park, on the Cape Flats, is demanding answers for her 14-year-old daughter’s death, just weeks after giving birth, allegedly...
Controversial UK puberty blockers trial on hold after concerns
A clinical trial assessing the risks and benefits of puberty-blocking drugs in children questioning their gender has been paused after safety concerns were raised...
Chinese MRI machines for Gauteng slammed by doctors
Doctors at Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital in Johannesburg have questioned a Gauteng Health Department decision to override their choice of MRI scanners and opting...
Western Cape won’t hire CHWs on a permanent basis
The Western Cape Department of Health & Wellness has no plans to comply with a 2025 Labour Court ruling that community health workers (CHWs)...
Surgeries cancelled as Grey’s Hospital struggles without air-conditioning
The recent heatwave has exacerbated an ongoing crisis at Grey’s Hospital in Pietermaritzburg, where the central air-conditioning system remained non-functional, leaving operating theatres and...
Planned protests after trade unions reject GEMS hikes
The proposed hefty contribution increase announced by the Government Employees Medical Scheme (GEMS) has been roundly rejected by unions in the Public Service Co-ordinating...
WHO slams US-funded baby vaccine trial in Guinea-Bissau
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has condemned the proposed and now-suspended randomised controlled trial planning to withhold the hepatitis B birth dose vaccine from...
Paediatric illness outbreak in Eastern Cape
A cluster of paediatric illness cases in Aberdeen, in the Sarah Baartman District of the Eastern Cape, has prompted a warning from the provincial...
Hospital denies negligence after baby allegedly falls from incubator
Tygerberg Hospital says an internal review has found no evidence of negligence after parents claimed one of their newborn twins fell from an incubator...
Australian experts dissect proposed new autism category
A group of international experts has been commissioned by The Lancet to propose a new category of “profound autism”, which would include children older...
Landmark SCA ruling a major setback for Health Department
A key strategy of the Department of Health to tackle its multi-million rand burden of medico-legal claims has been dealt a major blow, with...
Harmful chemicals found in SA sanitary products – UFS study
Menstrual products used by millions of South Africans may contain hormone-disrupting chemicals – even when marketed as “free from harmful chemicals” – suggests research...
Livingstone Hospital evicts 50 nurses
More than 50 nurses have been evicted from what was meant to be temporary accommodation at Livingstone Hospital, forcing many to scramble for places...
First Eastern Cape public IVF clinic opens
Eastern Cape Health has just launched the province’s first public in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) clinic, which opened at Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital in Mthatha last...
KZN MEC stands by claims about private paramedics
KwaZulu-Natal Transport & Human Settlements MEC Siboniso Duma has said he will not retract his remarks or apologise for insulting private paramedics, reports News24.
Duma's...
US threatens Gavi over vaccines ingredient
The US Government has threatened to withdraw all future funding unless Gavi, the vaccine alliance, removes the ingredient thimerosal from its vaccines. This comes...
Hospitals, clinics, battered by Limpopo floods
Persistent heavy rains and flooding have caused extensive damage to a number of health facilities in Limpopo, leaving some partially inaccessible while others are...
Call for ‘heartless’ MEC’s axing after ‘sleeping on the floor’ comment
In a Marie Antoinette-style “let them eat cake” PR disaster, the head of Gauteng Health has come in for scathing criticism after denying that...
High deaths rates among starving Limpopo children – Wits study
Thousands of South African children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition (SAM), say concerned experts, calling for urgent review of data quality and reporting...
Why obesity should be treated as a chronic disease in South Africa
One in every three adult South Africans is obese, and yet the condition is not treated as a chronic disease in this country –...
Pushback against growing ‘bogus doctor’ problem
Bogus medical practitioners threaten the health of patients and undermine trust in doctors, but while the problem might be growing in South Africa, so...
SA’s cancer fight needs backing of local science
Cancer is a democratic affliction: it does not only target the wealthy, yet its effect on South Africans is deeply unequal – thus requiring...
What science says we’ve been getting wrong about exercise
Doctors and physiologists point to studies that show tiny, regular bursts of effort – like climbing a few stairs – can capture many of...
Lawsuit threat after KZN MEC slams private paramedics
KwaZulu-Natal Transport MEC Siboniso Duma has accused a private ambulance service in Durban of “bulldozing” their way into accident scenes, bullying law enforcement, inflating...
Mpumalanga hires 100 new doctors
The appointment of nearly 100 new doctors last week at clinics and hospitals in Mpumalanga would strengthen primary healthcare and boost service delivery, said...
Hospital CEOs in hot water over Israeli delegation visit
Eastern Cape Health MEC Ntandokazi Capa has launched an investigation into two hospital CEOs who allowed an Israeli diplomatic delegation to tour their facilities...
Eastern Cape patients risk lives in local clinics, report finds
Political parties have slammed the findings of an oversight report exposing appalling conditions at health facilities in the Eastern Cape’s Buffalo City Metro and...
Aids drug supply resumes as Barrs exits business rescue
Barrs Pharmaceuticals, which was unable to supply its share of the government’s Aids drug tender, has exited business rescue and sold a controlling stake...
Deputy President’s son’s link to IDT oxygen plants controversy
Investigations into the now controversial R836m PSA oxygen plants tender have revealed that Thabiso Mashatile, son of Deputy President Paul Mashatile, had personally signed...