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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...
KZN Health officials in Public Protector's firing line
The Public Protector has released a report with damning findings against KwaZulu-Natal Health over alleged tender irregularities in the procurement of four mobile health...
Mkhize: NHI will be run with 'efficiency and integrity' of Road Accident Fund
SA's Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize says the National Health Insurance programme "will be run with the same efficiency and integrity" as the Road...
Hospital security fails yet again with another patient shot dead in Durban
Brazen attacks on patients and staff continue with apparent impunity, with a patient shot dead in a Durban hospital, writes MedicalBrief. A report...
Woman gives birth in taxi after clinic admission is refused
Two nurses from Buxedene Clinic, near Nongoma in KwaZulu-Natal, have been suspended for allegedly failing to assist a pregnant woman who then gave birth...
KZN Health welcomes controversial Gauteng 'payment in kind' ruling
KZN Health has welcomed a controversial recent Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) ruling that Gauteng Health will no longer have to fork out large cash...
Eastern Cape Health report highlights scale initiation death crisis
A recently released document from Eastern Cape Health shows the horrifying scale of the initiation death crisis in the province, where 816 initiates have...
Warrants of arrest issued for paediatric surgeon and anaesthetist
Warrants of arrest have been issued for paediatric surgeon Dr Peter Beale and anaesthetist Dr Abdulhay Munshi, reports News24. Beale and Munshi are accused...
As deaths mount, a call for medical circumcision to replace the traditional
Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital head of urology Dr Mbuyiselo Madiba has called for traditional circumcision in the Eastern Cape to be banned for a...
Traditional leaders want more policing, following death of 7 more initiates
Eastern Cape chair of the House of Traditional Leaders, Nkosi Mwelo Nonkonyana, has called for the intensification of monitoring interventions, including more resources for...
Concern over 'soaring' baby deaths at Gauteng hospital
Baby deaths have soared at Dr George Mukhari Hospital, near Ga-Rankuwa north of Pretoria, in the past five years, while the number of babies...
Spate of attacks reveal training failure of hospital security guards
With another spate of attacks at Eastern Cape hospitals and clinics this weekend, concerns are being raised over the training of security guards at...
Gauteng surgeon under investigation withdraws from award ceremony
Organisers of a ceremony recognising the work of Gauteng's paediatric doctors have announced that surgeon Professor Peter Beale has withdrawn from the awards. The...
Mkhize again moots a cap on medical claims, as they reach a record R100bn
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize is proposing a law that would put a cap on medical claims against the state after they shot up to...
Cuban medical training costs more than double than in SA
The Democratic Alliance (DA) says the annual cost of doctor training in Cuba is R331,000 per person – more than double what it would...
Discovery rejects 'flawed' race bias findings
Discovery Health has hit back at expert testimony before the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) which claimed widespread race bias "in the outcome" of...
Most of R11.4bn vaccine contract goes to state-backed developer
State-backed vaccine developer Biovac has secured the lion’s share of the government’s new R11.4bn contract to supply childhood vaccines, ending months of uncertainty about...
'Widespread and consistent' racial bias by top medical schemes
There was "widespread and consistent" evidence of discrimination in the outcome of investigations into fraud, waste and abuse by the top three medical schemes,...
Hawks clamp down on cannabis dispensaries
Canapax, South Africa’s first chain of franchised cannabis shops faces collapse after its founder was raided and arrested, reports the Saturday Star. The Hawks...
Motsoaledi testifies in businessman's murder case
Former Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has taken the stand in the Free State High Court and denied any involvement in the bribery and...
Top Medscheme job for man who interfered with RAF tender
After being found to have interfered in a tender process of more than R120m, the former CFO, third in command of the beleaguered Road...
Mediclinic takes a pragmatic position on NHI, says CEO
South Africa’s biggest private hospital group, Mediclinic International, is taking a pragmatic view on the government’s plans for universal health coverage, saying it poses...
CMS makes U-turn on large co-payments ban
The Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) has made a U-turn on its more than two-year process to ban large co-payments for medical scheme members...
GEMS' private healthcare benefit criticised in light of NHI
Trade union Solidarity has criticised the recent decision by the government’s biggest medical scheme to guarantee private hospital care to all its members, saying...