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Unions criticise Netcare's 'premature' retrenchment plans
Hospital group Netcare plans to retrench over 500 employees as it seeks to cut costs following a failed offshore expansion and amid a tough...
Doctors' group wants a commission of inquiry into Medscheme
The Healthcare Practitioners’ Association said it was drafting a proposal to Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi and President Cyril Ramaphosa asking for a commission of inquiry...
Health Market Inquiry delay will impact on patients – Section27
Patients will pay the price of the latest delayin the Competition Commission’s Health Market Inquiry (HMI), which has been suspended until the start of...
Sama 'concerns' over proposal for shortened internships
The South African Medical Association (Sama) has launched an investigation into a proposal by the national Health Department to shorten the internship period of...
Post-concussion problems end Springbok flyhalf's rugby career
Former Springbok flyhalf Pat Lambie has opened up on his decision to retire from professional rugby. Sport24 reports that his decision was due to...
Esidimeni investigation now to include 28 psychiatric care entities
President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed an amended proclamation to broaden the terms of reference of the Special Investigating Unit's (SIU) probe into the Life...
Scramble to fund nursing and medical intern posts
Following reports last week that some provinces did not have the budget for nursing and medical intern posts to accommodate many who had undergone...
Possible shortening of doctors' internships to one year
Shortening doctors’ internships from two years to one is being mooted to alleviate the strain in the training of doctors. Health Department spokesperson Popo...
Mediclinic fights to expand in North West province
South Africa’s biggest private hospital group by value, Mediclinic International, has presented its final argument to the Competition Tribunal as it fights to expand...
ANC reiterates at manifesto launch its commitment to the NHI
The ANC has reiterated its commitment to accelerate the implementation of the long-delayed National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill through the finalisation of legislation and...
Inquiry into SA's private healthcare sector cost R197m
The total cost of South Africa’s Competition Commission inquiry into the private healthcare sector amounted to R197m, The Times reports Economic Development Minister Ebrahim...
SA teens hide their pregnancies and pay with death
Almost half of maternal deaths in SA come from the 8%-10% of mothers who are teenagers, because these young people "generally delay coming to...
Netcare questions Discovery's role in health market inquiry
Private hospital group Netcare has raised questions about the independence of the Competition Commission’s health market inquiry, suggesting it may have been influenced by...
SA medical regulator warns of ‘disabling’ effect of 2 antibiotics
South Africa’s medicines regulator has warned patients of disabling and potentially permanent side effects associated with quinolone and fluroquinolone antibiotics, and urged people taking...
Government green light to fill 5,300 health sector posts
The government is set to hire more than 5,000 health workers, including doctors and nurses, to ease the crisis in public healthcare facilities across...
Pandor says degree fraud investigations are ‘iron-clad’
Higher Education and Training Minister Naledi Pandor, reacting to allegations of degree fraud at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the University of Zululand writes...
Necsa signed Russian nuclear medicine deal ‘to avoid embarrassment’
The axed chair of the Nuclear Energy Corporation of SA (Necsa) has admitted to signing a Russian nuclear medicine deal against the orders of...
Delays and disquiet over Ramaphosa’s quick-fix blueprint
The release of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s blueprint for fixing SA’s health system in the next two weeks has been delayed among growing disquiet that...
MSF survey shows scant counselling services for SA's child rape survivors
A survey of 135 health facilities designated to care for survivors of sexual violence in South Africa found that nearly half do not offer...
Rush to put 'secret' NHI Bill before Cabinet after DG is sidelined
The fiercely contested National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill will be rushed before the cabinet next week, despite the fact that Health director-general Precious Matsoso...
SA's nuclear medicine producer opens after year-long closure
One of South Africa's few profitable state-owned enterprises (SOE), nuclear medicine producer NTP Radioisotopes, has been reopened after a year-long shutdown that nearly brought...
2 years after Esidimeni, SANC and HPCSA yet to act
Two years after the Life Esidimeni tragedy not a single professional body has taken steps against professionals involved in the project, a Beeld report...
Mentally ill inmates face Esidimeni scenario — Inspectorate judge
If no solution is found to properly house mentally ill people in prisons the country "may be staring at a possible Life Esidimeni incident,...
Health Dept and Treasury battle behind the scenes over NHI Bill
Presidential adviser Dr Olive Shisana and Minister of Health Dr Aaron Motsoaledi appear to have side-lined senior Health Department and Treasury officials in preparing...
Questions over new murder charge against Dignity SA's Davison
Euthanasia-supporting Dignity SA executive member, Sean Davison, is facing a new charge of premeditated murder for the death of Justin Varian in 2015. According...
Most SA cannabis oil 'worse than used diesel’ — SAPHRA
Most cannabis oil sold on South Africa’s streets was worse than used diesel oil. A Daily News report says this is according to Griffiths...
Premium hikes of up to 10% in 2019, 15% for some if MSA Bill passes
Consumers will have to fork out up to 10% more for their medical aid schemes from January. Actuaries have warned, meanwhile, that if the...
State switches tack to entice private sector GPs
South Africa’s Health Department is seeking new ways to entice private-sector general practitioners to provide their services under the National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme...
Fiscal crunch means NHI projects on back-burner — Motsoaledi
National Health Insurance (NHI) projects will be put on the back-burner as the Health Department has to reprioritise its budget, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi...
CMS ban on low-cost med schemes faces legal challenge
Discovery Health may turn to litigation after the Final Board of Appeals of the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) banned two of its primary...
GEMS opposition to merging with other schemes
The principal officer of the Government Employees Medical Scheme (GEMS) has warned against the state’s plans to merge it with other schemes for public...
ANC lets two disgraced former Health MECs off the hook
ANC Gauteng leaders Qedani Mahlangu and Brian Hlongwa will remain on the party's provincial executive committee (PEC), the ANC said, despite their respective roles...
Labour Department closes down Health Department's Pretoria HQ
The national Health Department has closed its Pretoria offices, reports The Times. The Labour Department ordered the Health Department on Monday to evacuate the...
Legal limbo for low-cost med schemes hurts the less well-off
Low-cost medical plans can offer workers in the private sector access to much-needed basic health care, but despite employers being willing to sponsor this...
Medical schemes' spending on benefits up 6% to R161bn
Overall medical schemes spent R160.6bn on healthcare benefits in 2017, up 6.04% from the R151.2bn spent in 2016. Fin24 reports that this is according...
High unemployment keeps SA's medical scheme numbers static
The number of medical-scheme beneficiaries remained virtually unchanged for the past seven years with high unemployment and lack of government intervention said to be...
SANC delays on private nursing colleges threaten NHI plans
The implementation of National Health Insurance will demand many more nurses, a major concern because of the delay in South African Nursing Council approvals for private...
Global mental health report condemns Life Esidimeni tragedy
Exactly a year after the start of the arbitration hearings that sought justice for the families of the dead Life Esidimeni patients, the esteemed Lancet...
Commission's private healthcare data flawed — lawyer
The Competition Commission’s preliminary report into SA's private healthcare industry has come under fire at the Hospital Association’s annual conference, with a lawyer describing...
Jobs summit to consider Netcare proposal for 50,000 new nurses
A proposal to train and employ 50,000 new nurses will be one of the flagship projects on the table at the government's Jobs Summit...