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Medical scheme membership becomes unaffordable to many
Medical scheme membership has become unaffordable for an increasing proportion of the population since 2012, as high unemployment and the rising cost of private...
CMSA investigation into 'shocking’ mass failures in surgery finals
The Colleges of Medicine of South Africa (CMSA) is to investigate the failure of all candidates from the universities of Wits, Cape Town, Pretoria,...
NHI also for foreign nationals and asylum seekers, says Mkhize
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize met with government officials, health practitioners and other guests in Pietermaritzburg on Friday to clarify issues related to the roll...
CMS suspends 5 after hotline claims of irregularities
The Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) has suspended five officials over allegations of irregularities following anonymous tip-offs on its hotline. The medical schemes regulator...
SA's mental health facilities lack psychiatrists and psychologists – DA
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has revealed that almost 50% of South African hospitals that offer mental health services don’t have a psychiatrist available, while...
Oppositions slams government over 'looming nursing crisis'
The government's actions in shutting down a DA-sponsored parliamentary motion to discuss the looming nursing crisis indicates it has no plan to fix...
National Health Dept maintains hectic pace of NHI process
Despite legal and civil society calls for a more considered process with the NHI Bill, the National Health Department is maintaining a hectic pace,...
Gore: NHI won't shift Discovery's focus overseas
Discovery has managed to build itself into a global health care giant, making it less reliant on its South African business. But CEO Adrian...
SA Medical Association urges private hospitals to improve security
The South African Medical Association (SAMA) has urged private hospitals to pay to improve safety measures to protect the lives of patients and staff following...
Assisted death must be decriminalised – SA mental health practitioners
A group of South African mental health practitioners and psychologists from the Cape have called on government to decriminalise medically-approved assisted death. It is...
In camera hearings granted at CMS inquiry into racial profiling
Health professionals fearing intimidation by some medical aid schemes have been granted permission to give evidence in camera at the inquiry set up to...
Gauteng wants national government to finance 4 central hospitals
Gauteng premier David Makhura is lobbying the national Health Department to take over the financing of the province’s four central hospitals, arguing that they...
Claim that Polmed lost R11.2m in 'illegal building deal'
The projected R11.2m in losses from the SA Police Service’s medical scheme Polmed’s “illegal” acquisition of its building have highlighted assertions made that the...
Medical schemes' anti-fraud tactics queried at CMS inquiry
Medical scheme administrators are overstepping the mark in their fraud investigations into healthcare professionals, straying into the terrain of regulatory authorities and claiming back...
SAPPF: Evidence of 'harassment' of doctors but not racial profiling
The SA Private Practitioners Forum says it has no evidence medical schemes are using racial profiling to determine which of its members to investigate...
Discovery 'warning signs' send investors 'skittering'
Of all of the listed companies likely to be impacted by the arrival of National Health Insurance (NHI), medical scheme administrator Discovery appears to...
Red Cross Hospital makes history with first-in-Africa procedure
In a first for the African continent and only the third time ever, Eyewitness News reports that a 6-year-old patient from George was the...
Mediclinic to challenge competition tribunal finding
Private hospital group Mediclinic is poised to challenge the Competition Tribunal’s prohibition of its proposed acquisition of Matlosana Medical Health Services (MMHS) at the...
Paid sick-leave is putting pressure on government's purse
After publishing the below article, the Sunday Times issued this apology:
Apology
In “Sickening: officials paid to stay home”, we reported that Sonia Lupondwana had been...
Failing medical students want SAHRC probe of 'discriminatory' marking
Failing medical students want a SA Human Rights Commission probe of Wits University's internationally validated marking system, which they claim is 'discriminatory'.
City Press reports:...
HPCSA backs down on board exams for overseas-qualified doctors
In the face of legal action, the Health Professions Council of SA has agreed not to limit the number of overseas-qualified doctors allowed to...
No SAHRC action against staff over woman forced to give birth at clinic gates
The SA Human Rights Commission says no action has been taken against Pretoria clinic officials who turned away a heavily pregnant woman who ended...
'Silver bullet' on its way to being reality Mkhize tells parliamentarians
According to the parliamentary portfolio committee on health, the National Health Insurance scheme is Dr Zweli Mkhize's "silver bullet" to ensure that rich and poor have equal...
More than 300 complaints to HPCSA about bogus practitioners
The Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) says it has had more 300 complaints so far this year regarding bogus doctors and is doing...
Biovac to start local production of Sanofi and Pfizer vaccines
The Biovac Institute , a SA public-private partnership, will start local production of Sanofi’s Hexavalent vaccine in 2020 and Pfizer’s anti-pneumonia Prevnar 13 vaccine in 2021,...
Lagging middle-class incomes hurt medical scheme take up
Spiralling costs are playing havoc with middle-class incomes amid a stagnant economy and are driving people to reconsider whether they should be re-joining medical...
Life Healthcare dumps its Indian hospital group venture
Private hospital group Life Healthcare has concluded the sale of its stake in Indian hospital group Max Healthcare for R3.7bn, marking the final nail...
SA’s insurance claims profile for 2018 — Liberty report
KwaZulu-Natal tops the list when it comes to insurance claims for cardiovascular diseases, reports The Times. Financial services group Liberty's claim statistics for 2018...
Ramaphosa says that revision of NHI is 'far advanced'
The government is at a “far advanced” stage in the revision of a detailed National Health Insurance (NHI) plan for implementation, President Cyril Ramaphosa...
SA wild animals most dangerous to people — ER data
The question as to which SA wild animals are the most dangerous to people is addressed by Medibank data for 2015 to 2018, on...
Ramaphosa demands report on initiate deaths
President Cyril Ramaphosa has demanded traditional leaders account for the high number of initiate deaths and amputations that overshadow traditional male circumcision every year.
A...
Medical device industry rejects Discovery's planned fees
South Africa’s biggest medical scheme administrator Discovery Health plans to introduce hefty fees to assess the effectiveness of medical devices such as glucose monitors,...
Shoddy systems at JHB forensic science lab puts cases at risk
Successful criminal prosecutions in three provinces relying on the Forensic Science Laboratory in Johannesburg for analysis, including post-mortem results, could be jeopardised following a...
Still no regulatory changes despite 200 listeriosis deaths
It has been more than a year since 200 people died in a listeriosis outbreak, and the government has still not passed changes that...
'Dramatic’ scheduling exemption for cannabidiol
The legal status of cannabidiol (CBD), a compound derived from dagga that is showing up in everything from sore-muscle creams to beer, just changed...
High prevalence of ARV and TB stockouts — SA survey
One in five public health facilities in South Africa were unable to supply at least one antiretroviral (ARV) or tuberculosis (TB) drug on the...
Many doctors, dentists and pharmacists considering emigration
The number of skilled professionals committed to a career in South Africa is declining according to the 2019 PPS Graduate Professional Index (GPI). While...
Pharmas act to clear SAHPRA backlog; lobby for local prioritisation
Pharmaceutical manufacturers have voluntarily withdrawn thousands of applications to register new products with South Africa’s medicines regulator, as the SA Health Products Regulatory Authority...
Mediclinic Intl reports another annual loss; New day clinics for SA
Mediclinic International, which has announced another annual loss, intends to build six more day clinics in SA in the next two years, reports Business...
Inquiry into claims of medical scheme racial profiling
The Council for Medical Schemes (CMS), along with various doctor associations and the Board of Healthcare Funders, has instituted an inquiry into allegations of...