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SA suppliers race against time to secure essential medical equipment
South Africa is in a life-or-death race to secure essential medical equipment before a surge in COVID-19 patients is expected to hit hospitals in...
SA health regulator gives emergency go-ahead for chloroquine importation
A local pharmaceutical company has received permission from the medical regulator to import half a million chloroquine phosphate tablets for use in severely ill...
SA authorities provide trade finance to import essential medical products
A special package of R500m has been set aside for trade finance to import essential medical products to fight the coronavirus outbreak, Polity reports...
'No private healthcare pushback' on Competition Commission's report
The Competition Commission has indicated there has been no push-back by private health-care companies after the tabling of a damning report into their conduct....
Health Department will investigate CGE's report into involuntary sterilisation
The Health Department will investigate allegations that women living with HIV were coerced to undergo involuntary sterilisation, reports News24. Last month, the Commission for...
Parliamentary summons for Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University
Allegations of maladministration and governance challenges at the Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University (SMU) have caught the attention of Parliament’s portfolio committee on higher...
13 South Africans now diagnosed with COVID-19
Health Minister Dr Zweli Mhize has announced that six new cases of coronavirus had been confirmed. The Citizen reports that the new cases raise...
CMS outlines how medical schemes must cover COVID-19 tests and treatment
The Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) has outlined how the country’s medical schemes must offer cover for the virus. Business Tech reports that in...
SA private labs now offer coronavirus test
As of Monday this week, South Africans can walk into private laboratories for a coronavirus test without it being done via the National Institute...
SA pharma on alert for COVID-19 disruption of supplies from Asia
Pharmaceutical companies are closely monitoring the potential effect of the coronavirus on the supply of medicines and raw materials sourced from Asia, South Africa’s...
Parliamentary committee concerns over 'challenges' in NHI pilots phase
The Portfolio Committee on Health has been briefed by the Health Department at Parliament on the National Health Insurance (NHI) Pilot Districts Evaluation Report....
Durban gynaecologist seriously injured in assault by dead patient's family
A female gynaecologist at a Lenmed hospital in Durban was seriously injured in an assault by the family a patient she had operated on,...
CMS wants 'urgent steps' to reduce med scheme caesarean rates
The Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) said urgent steps must be taken to reduce high levels of medically unnecessary caesarean births in the medical...
All's well, says Compensation Fund CEO following claim non-payment outcry
The Compensation Fund computer system is not broken and is working properly though new registration procedures are more demanding, says the Fund's CEO, in...
SIU: 10 advocates implicated in R100m fraud, including medical negligence claims
An ongoing probe by the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has lifted the lid on apparent wide-scale graft in the Office of the State Attorney,...
Moribund Compensation Fund forces some physios and OTs to retrench or close
Some healthcare providers, like physiotherapists and occupational therapists (OTs), who work with the Compensation Fund have started to retrench staff while others have halted...
Ramaphosa: 'Abandon self-interest and mobilise behind NHI'
President Cyril Ramaphosa said that public hearings show "broad support" for National Health Insurance and that South Africans "must move away from a culture...
After protests, CMS agrees to stakeholder engagement on low cost benefit options
The Council for Medical Schemes (CMS), says it will appoint two advisory committees to engage with stakeholders on a low-cost benefit option (LCBO) framework...
SAHPRA review: Pain meds with codeine may be prescription only
The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) is reviewing the status of pain medication, after concerns regarding the growing non-medical use of codeine-containing...
Medical schemes appeal CMS scrapping of low-cost benefit packages
The Board of Healthcare Funders (BHF) and the Health Funders Association (HFA) have challenged the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) shock move...
Free State dorp tipped as quarantine centre for SA evacuees from China
The government plans to quarantine a number of South Africans who have been in China in the small Free State town of Thaba Nchu,...
WSU's unaccredited medical orthotics and prosthetics degree a blow for students
Nineteen medical orthotics and prosthetics students who enrolled for a degree at Walter Sisulu University (WSU) discovered after six years of study that their...
SAMA backs nurses' HRC complaint over security 'security crisis' in hospitals
The South African Medical Association (Sama) has thrown its weight behind nurses who have filed a complaint with the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC)...
US-funded anti-abortionists 'violating SA laws’ — Health Dept
The government is concerned about the funding of anti-abortion campaigners by US lobby groups, claiming that they are violating domestic laws and will be...
Health activists lobby for substantial hike in SA sugar tax to 20%
Activists have submitted a memorandum to Treasury, calling for an increase on the Health Promotion Levy from 11% to 20%.
Health-e News reports that...
Mkhize orders 'urgent' office solution for non-working Health Dept employees
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has ordered the department urgently to find alternative office space for employees at its Civitas headquarters in Pretoria, where...
Medical Protection wants law review following arrests of doctors
The international Medical Protection Society has thrown its support behind a petition calling for criminal charges to be dropped, in the interim, against two...
Wits Medical School probe over falsification of marks met with racism claims
A Wits University’s medical school probe into allegations that black medical students falsified their portfolio marks has been met with racism claims, reports City...
UKZN students burn HIV support centre to the ground
The beginning of the university academic year got off to a violent start at the University of KwaZulu-Natal when students torched burnt down the...
Compensation Fund failure to pay medical bills augurs badly for NHI
In a failure that could intensify concerns about the administration of the proposed National Health Insurance (NHI), a multi-billion-rand government fund that compensates doctors...
SA's $130m Uhambo HIV-vaccine study ends in failure
A $130m SA-based study of a promising vaccine for HIV has ended in failure after an interim analysis showed it was no more effective...
Health Dept employees work 3-hour days because HQ is a health hazard
South Africa’s national Health Department has told employees to only work three hours a day because, ironically, its headquarters are still a health hazard....
GEMS to claw back over R100m ‘defrauded' by private doctors and hospitals
South Africa’s biggest medical aid scheme has begun legal proceedings to claw back millions of rand fraudulently lost to scores of private doctors and...
DA calls for an inquiry into Mkhize's appointment of niece as chief of staff
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has called for a full inquiry into the appointment of Health Minister Zweli Mkhize's niece as his chief of staff...
Western Cape Health MEC says NHI will make provinces 'useless and dysfunctional'
With public hearings on the National Health Insurance (NHI) set to come to the Western Cape in February, the province has expressed its lack...
HPCSA arrests another unregistered doctor, warns public to check practitioners
A Congolese national doctor has been arrested in the Eastern Cape for allegedly practising without proper documentation, leading to a Health Professional Council warning...
Is CMS having a rethink on low-cost products?
The Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) appears to be having second thoughts about its announcement that certain low-cost medical aid products will be illegal...
CRE outbreak and 10 baby deaths in Gauteng Hospital blamed on overcrowding
Gauteng Health MEC Bandile Masuku has blamed a Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) outbreak at the Tembisa Hospital, where 10 babies died, on overcrowding. Masuku said...
Life CEO hugs Mkhize, enthuses over NHI, then packs bags for Australia
The out-of-the-blue resignation of Life Healthcare CEO Dr Shrey Viranna from has raised eyebrows, as well as sparked some pointed observations on social media,...
Medicines regulator may restrict codeine to prescription only
South Africa’s medicines regulator has revived the debate on the control of codeine and is considering ruling that popular painkillers and cough suppressants are...