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Public Health
Bed linen crisis hits Bara patients
Soweto’s Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital is struggling with yet another bed linen crisis, leaving hundreds of patients without basic bedding necessities and contributing to...
Gauteng Health flags organ donor scarcity in SA
The critical shortage of organ donors is unlikely to improve unless more people become donors, with Gauteng Health MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko warning that at...
Malawi low on TB drugs
Malawi is running out of tuberculosis drugs, with health officials warning that stocks will dry up by the end of September – this just...
Free State team performs robotic surgery marathon
In a medical milestone, six Free State patients recently underwent robotic surgery at Universitas Academic Hospital in Bloemfontein in six days in a breakthrough...
SA diagnostic breakthrough saving lives
New technology developed at the University of the Witwatersrand is being expanded to tackle a broader range of diseases after its proven success in...
SA woman specialist is first adult epileptologist in the country
A South African doctor, the first – and only – woman in South Africa to practise as an internationally trained adult epileptologist, recently returned...
Eastern Cape acts to ease staff shortages, but concerns linger
The dire shortage of medical staff and the critical number of vacancies at Eastern Cape hospitals and clinics – and others, nationwide – may...
NHLS corruption clean-up pays dividends
Strategies that include a tip-off hotline are helping the beleaguered National Health Laboratory Service reduce fraud and criminality – after the organisation was rocked...
Zimbabwe moves on universal healthcare coverage
A new Bill before Zimbabwe’s Parliament aims to provide healthcare for everyone in the country, forcing even private hospitals to fall in line, but...
Nigeria cuts import reliance to produce test kits for HIV, TB, malaria
In a major initiative to fill a gap left by US aid cuts, Codix Bio, Nigeria’s WHO-licensed diagnostics factory, is to produce 147m rapid...
Gauteng Health ordered to treat cancer patients – immediately
The Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) has instructed the provincial Department of Health to immediately provide cancer treatment to patients on a backlog list –...
How Botswana eliminated paediatric HIV
Political will, free maternity care and digital health tools have helped Botswana achieve high standards for ending mother-to-child transmission, the first African nation to...
US cities abandon strategies to make drug use safer
Various cities in the United States are retreating from “harm reduction” strategies that have helped reduce deaths but which critics, including President Donald Trump,...
Game-changing Lenacapavir to be rolled out from next year
More than 300 government clinics are in line for the first roll-out of the widely-hailed twice-yearly anti-HIV jab lenacapavir within the next two years...
Legal suit on the cards against anti-migrant groups
Civil society groups, with the help of Lawyers for Human Rights, are preparing legal action in a bid to force authorities to act against...
NHLS targets dented by 2024 cyber attack
The National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) is still suffering from the cyber attack last June that annihilated its ICT systems and infrastructure, and resulted in it...
Plans on track for new Western Cape hospitals
The Western Cape Department of Health & Wellness (DHW) plans to complete three hospital projects by 2033, with the new Klipfontein and Belhar regional...
Life Esidimeni officials to be prosecuted for just two of the deaths
Families of those who died in appalling circumstances in the Life Esidimeni tragedy are furious that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has decided former...
Innovative project sees Groote Schuur interns tackle GBV
Cape Town’s Groote Schuur Hospital has provided 50 medical interns with specialised training on how to sensitively screen for intimate partner violence (IPV) and...
Child vapers three times likelier to become smokers – global study
A large global review has suggested links between youth vaping and pneumonia, bronchitis, lower total sperm counts, headaches and migraines, while the researchers also...
Hospital marked for NHI has 200 vacancies
An Eastern Cape hospital selected for NHI implementation has been found to be in dire straits with more than 200 vacancies.
During an oversight visit...
Why lung cancer is a ‘hidden epidemic’ in sub-Saharan Africa
It’s the deadliest cancer in the world, killing 1.8m people each year – more than any other cancer. But the official statistics suggest that isn’t...
Where will millions from Treasury to fill US funding void go?
In response to US funding cuts for South African health services and research projects, National Treasury has provided the National Department of Health with...
Arrests as anti-migrant thugs ratchet up their campaign
Police have made several arrests of militant anti-migrant group members recently, but seemingly with little effect as the organisations continue to terrorise foreigners seeking...
Healthcare staff under siege from crime
Public healthcare workers are living in fear as criminals wage a war of robbery and assault on them, with attacks escalating – and even...
Patients say clinic nurses force them to have HIV tests
Residents in at least three provinces say they have been coerced into undergoing HIV testing at various government health facilities, and that in some...
Mthatha EMS crew forced to sleep in Khayelitsha shack
Two Eastern Cape EMS drivers recently transporting a child from Mthatha had to spend two nights in an informal settlement in Khayelitsha, Cape Town,...
Fire-damaged Free State hospital wards back in service
The National District Hospital in the Free State re-opened wards and sections of the Bloemfontein facility that had been gutted by a fire in...
State can be sued for failing foreign nationals, lawyers group says
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) has warned that the government can be taken to court if it fails to intervene in the public health...
Poor record-keeping adds to Eastern Cape medico-legal cases
A major driver of successful medical negligence cases against the Eastern Cape Health Department is its poor record-keeping, making it impossible for it to...
Most liver cancer preventable, Lancet Commission finds
As many as three in five liver cancer cases could be prevented, according to a report from The Lancet Commission on liver cancer, which...
Heads to roll after mental patients froze to death in Northern Cape hospitals
An investigation into the treatment, complications and deaths of psychiatric patients at the Northern Cape Mental Health Hospital (NCMHH) and the Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe...
Health Budget: new hospitals, upgrades and millions for HIV projects
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has said a new central hospital is under construction, that there are also plans to develop another three academic hospitals...
KZN Health MEC demands probe into corruption claims
KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Health Nomagugu Simelane has called for Premier Thami Ntuli to investigate the allegations of corruption levelled against her, making the remarks...
Companies linked to Mashatile's sons scoop R49m Gauteng hospital tender
Two companies with links to Deputy President Paul Mashatile’s sons were paid R36.4m – and are owed a further R12.6m – for a Gauteng...
Call for action as SA loses 6 000 doctors and nurses annually
Experts warn that urgent intervention is needed to deal with the staffing crisis in the healthcare sector, which has seen almost 6 000 doctors...
Nurses allegedly ignored patient who miscarried at KZN hospital
Hospital staff allegedly left a young patient ignored and unattended during and after her miscarriage, with the woman being forced to sit with the...
Africa braces for spike in mosquito-borne diseases after US cuts
The withdrawal of US funding could see a worsening of mosquito-borne diseases and a reversal in the progress made in beating the spread, with...
Study flags high colistin-resistant Klebsiella rates in Africa
Researchers have expressed alarm over Africa’s high levels of resistance to a last-resort antibiotic in an already multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacterial pathogen, according to their...
Anti-foreigner group ups ante at healthcare facilities
Despite warnings against vigilantism, the controversial March on March movement is extending its campaign to several other hospitals and clinics in KwaZulu-Natal, and elsewhere,...