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SA's state laboratory services face a looming strike
A deadlock between laboratory workers and the National Health Laboratory Service has raised the prospects of a nationwide strike.
The country's health services could be facing...
MPLA calls for law change over medical negligence claims
SA legislation should be amended to stipulate that future medical negligence claims must be prosecuted within three years after the incident occurred, says David Campbell,...
'Insufficient evidence' ends HPCSA inquiry into bullying, racism and sexism claims
The Health Professionals Council of SA has closed its inquiry into allegations by Dr Yumna Moosa of bullying, racism, and sexism by senior doctors at...
Gupta company cited in court papers for holding back clinic opening
A 24-hour clinic serving 20,000 people and was supposed to open in Apil, remains unfinished, allegedly because the Gupta-owned Optimum Coal has failed to...
Confusion over the SA state hospital treatment fee
Uncertainty reigns over wide variations in how state medical facilities vary in the amount and under what circumstances they charge patients a treatment fee.
Do...
SA has highest percentage of human error healthcare data breaches – report
The average per capita cost of healthcare data breaches in South Africa in 2015 was $1.87m, and SA companies had the highest percentage of human error...
Increased Kruger Park malaria risk
Heavy rains received this year have increased the risk of malaria in South Africa's Kruger National Park, says a Traveller24 report. Usually classified as...
Former Wits University executive pleads guilty to stealing USAID funds
A former executive of the Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute (WRHI) has pled guilty on charges relating to the theft of more than...
No matter what, Motsoaledi determined to win NHI 'war'
No matter what the opposition from the private health sector, SA's National Health Insurance plan will be implemented, said Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, Minister of...
Libyan doctors deny stealing SA jobs
Libyan doctors who are in South Africa to train as specialists have rejected claims they are stealing local jobs. They say they are part...
SA men respond in droves to soapie star's call to get circumcised
More than 5,000 South African men have responded to the challenge earlier this year by popular soapie star and Brothers for Life ambassador, Kagiso...
Lack of funding stymies SA medical intern placements
Limited funding for medical intern posts has left nearly 100 medical graduates without jobs and the situation could worsen when about 1,000 graduates return...
Mediclinic fights to keep Eskom power in defaulting towns
Advocate Deon Irish SC has told the Pretoria High Court there is “no reason known to man or beast” why essential services cannot be...
New sepsis and meningitis vaccine to be developed in SA
SA's Biovac is set to develop a new vaccine to treat one of the leading causes of sepsis and meningitis in infants it has...
SA breast care centre gets international accreditation
The Netcare Milpark Breast Care Centre of Excellence has been granted a three-year, full accreditation by the National Accreditation Programme for Breast Centres (NAPBC),...
MP received death threats after exposing bad medical care
The head of a parliamentary committee received death threats just hours after exposing “inexcusable” levels of medical care for patients at Matikwane Hospital in...
Competition Commission rejects WHO private health prices report
The Competition Commission’s health market inquiry would not accept a controversial report on private hospital prices commissioned by the World Health Organisation because it failed...
Tim Noakes misconduct hearing starts wrapping up
Professor Tim Noakes is being prosecuted over a scientific disagreement with dieticians, his lawyer Michael Van der Nest said as the Banting guru's misconduct...
Africa’s first masters in interventional cardiology launched at UCT
Thanks to a collaboration with the private healthcare sector, the University of Cape Town (UCT) faculty of health sciences has introduced Africa’s first masters...
Film on pressures junior doctors face wins another award
Doc-U-Mentally – a film which aptly captures the pressures junior doctors face in South Africa – recently won the award for ‘Best Cinematography’ at...
Attack by 'thugs' closes night services at Ntuzuma clinic
Trauma patients in the Ntuzuma area outside Durban will have to travel elsewhere for treatment at night after staff there were attacked, reports The Times. KwaZulu-Natal Health...
Appeals tribunal to process appeals of Health Ombud's Esidimeni report
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has announced the appointment of an ad-hoc independent tribunal that will process all appeals of the Health Ombudsman’s damning report...
SA Health doesn't know the number of state hospital negligence deaths – MP
The Minister of Health, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, and his department simply doesn't know the number of people who die in South Africa’s state hospitals...
HST’s annual check on SA health’s system’s performance
The Health Systems Trust (HST) has published the District Health Barometer 2015/16, its comprehensive annual analysis of the SA health system's performance.
Produced annually since 2005,...
KZN Health mismanagement and corruption report still not public
Two years after it was completed, the outcome of an investigation into allegations of corruption and mismanagement against the former head of KwaZulu-Natal Health...
SA's laboratory service CEO and CFO suspended
The CEO along with the CFO of South Africa’s National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) have been suspended by the organisation’s board, pending the outcome...
First NHI fund to start operating this year
The government plans a National Health Insurance (NHI) fund this year that would start with maternal health services, improved psychiatric care and services for...
Statistics SA: How South Africans die
Statistics South Africa has released its exhaustive analysis of mortality and causes of death in 2015, noting a 3% decline to 460,236 deaths. The...
Tender procedures for SA's flying medical services questioned
An investigation has revealed that the provision of aeromedical services to SA's underserviced rural areas has become mired in questionable tenders reports Daily Maverick....
Esidimeni victims found in pile of unclaimed bodies
National director-general of Health Precious Matsoso this week personally intervened with a large police contingent to secure access to a Pretoria 'private mortuary' where...
NHLS board meets to discuss forensic audit
Following accusations from the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) against executives at the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) of corruption and maladministration,...
Bouquets and brickbats for proposed cannabis Bill
Marijuana support groups have welcomed the green light given by the government for the manufacture of cannabis for medicinal use, but criticised the proposed...
Fieldworkers will test 60,000 to gauge HIV prevalence in SA
South Africa launched the fifth Human Sciences Research Council study of South Africa's HIV prevalence, in which 60‚000 people will have blood taken by fieldworkers...
SAMA applies to have price-fixing complaints dismissed
The Competition Commission has heard an application of dismissal brought by the SA Medical Association (Sama), to have the two price-fixing complaint referrals of the...
Disappointment as DOH delays launch of SA drug regulator
The Department of Health will miss its 1 April deadline for establishing the South African Health Products Regulatory Agency (SAHPRA) by several months, disappointing...
New paramedic training regulations may cause 'catastrophic' drop in numbers
New regulations, instigated by theHealth Professionals' Council of SA to confine the training of paramedics to universities, could lead to a 'catastrophic' drop in their...
Manoeuvering around SA Aids Council leadership vacuum
Within days, the SA National AIDS Council (SANAC) will have no CEO and there are fears that powerful individuals within the council intend to...
Delayed report may peg psychiatric patient death toll at 80
The probe by SA Health Ombudsman of the ill-fated transfer of more than 2,000 psychiatric patients from Life Esidimeni to several non-governmental organisations, puts the...
DA and DoH clash over request for medical scheme member data
Democratic Alliance spokesperson on health Wilmot James has described the request by the SA Department of Health for medical aids to pass on the names...
'Surplus', not lack of posts for interns – Motsoaledi
Contrary to perceptions, South Africa has a surplus of posts for medicine graduates, but some interns have opted not to take them up, Health...