Friday, 29 March, 2024
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SA Provincial Health

KZN Health MEC 'names and shames' CEOs

At a packed meeting in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo named and shamed 11 CEOs and public relations officers and referred to stories highlighting poor treatment of patients that had made it onto the front pages of newspapers.

Journalists thrown out of Baragwanath

Journalists were escorted out of Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital by security after its CEO refused to allow media to accompany the Public Service Commission on its inspection. Meanwhile, Premier David Makhura says Gauteng is the country's best performing province when it comes to compliances with national core standards on health.

Free State Health near collapse – doctors

Whistleblowers list incompetence, corruption, neglect and bullying as contributing to the 'virtual collapse' of Free State Health, reports Groundup. In response, the department blames a campaign by 'untouchables' against Health MEC Dr Benny Malakoane.

Charity bails out KZN hospital with drugs

In KwaZulu-Natal, the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital (IALCH) narrowly averted having to cancel all elective surgery, including hip operations for patients on waiting lists, when benevolent organisation Gift of the Givers gave the hospital supplies of a drug it did not have, according to a Sunday Tribune report.

Gauteng to act on guards following deaths

Gauteng Health has promised to ensure that security guards do not turn away patients, following the deaths of two children allegedly denied medical care.

Radical student training changes at UKZN

From this year, UKZN medical students would spend between 30% and 40% of their training time in rural hospitals, its dean has announced. Another 'huge change' was that posts would rather be left open than be filled 'by people who do not quite fit the profile.'

Gauteng's 'smoke break' surgeon is fired

A surgeon who left his patient on the operating table while taking a smoke break has been dismissed for gross negligence, Gauteng Health said. The disciplinary committee of the Health Professionals Council of SA will now investigate the matter.

Request for three-month cancer treatment supply

The Breast Health Foundation wants government to issue breast cancer patients with three-month supplies of the Tamoxifen treatment, to cut the collection burden on clinics and patients.

R876m in legal claims against EC Health

The Eastern Cape Health Department incurred R34.3m in legal costs during the 2013-2014 financial year defending lawsuits. Last year alone, the department faced legal claims totalling a staggering R876m.

Councillor guilty of stealing mobile clinic

Pongola ANC councillor Lukha Nxumalo has been found guilty of stealing a municipal mobile clinic and was sentenced to four years in prison or a fine of R20,000.

Court bid to hospitalise TB couple

A couple infected with a highly contagious strain of TB refused to be admitted to hospital on religious grounds. Now Mpumalanga health authorities have gone to court in an urgent bid to force them to be isolated in hospital to prevent their spreading the disease.

EC employees banned from outside work

Eastern Cape Health department employees have been banned from doing private work of any kind without pre-approval, following complaints that patients had to wait in long queues because the health workers were busy elsewhere during working hours.

Cuba to send 50 more doctors to SA

Cuba is to intensify its health collaboration with South Africa with the imminent arrival of around 50 doctors.

KZN R61m mobile hospital tender queried

The KwaZulu-Natal Health department has been challenged with questions over a R61m mobile hospital tender. At the same time, Mzansi Lifecare, the company that secured the lion's share of the tender, has apologised for threats made to the Sapa journalist investigating the tender.

Left on table while surgeon takes smoke break

A surgeon at Pholosong Hospital in Tsakane, east of Johannesburg, cut open a patient during an operation and left her for 30 minutes while he disappeared to have a smoke.

UKZN students face a dearth of cadavers

A dearth of the dead is leaving medical students in KwaZulu-Natal struggling to complete their studies, forcing up to 15 to share a single body during dissection classes.

Long queues for eye patients in Gauteng

According to a recent written reply to questions in the Gauteng Legislature, 3,091 patients at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital's St John's Eye Clinic wait three years from diagnosis to operation.

FS Health has lost 116 negligence claims

Free State Health is staggering under civil claims, says MEC Dr Benny Malakoane. He has as vowed to recover medical negligence payouts from the relevant personnel.

KZN CFO fails to keep his job

The chief financial officer of KwaZulu-Natal's Health Department has failed in a court bid against his dismissal.

MEC: Gauteng medicine shortage 'stabilised'

Gauteng Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu says the shortage of medicine at the province's hospitals has been stabilised and a new monitoring system has been set up to ensure each facility is able to get supplies as soon as possible, but there are still gaps in the system.

Cryoablation milestone in Gauteng

A team of cardiac specialists practising at Netcare Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg have reached a milestone by conducting 100 cryoablation procedures.

Moonlighting KZN doctors rake it in

KwaZulu-Natal state doctors have raked in R151m by colluding with their moonlighting colleagues and legal private practitioners in claiming from medical aid when treating patients in public hospitals.