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Talking Points
‘Doctors should tell people with terminal cancer that they are dying’ – US medic
I have worn many hats professionally, the most uncomfortable being “doctor friend”. At best, it’s a request for a recommendation for a gynaecologist or...
Cheap, over-the-counter codeine fuels SA schoolchildren’s addiction
South Africans youngsters have found a new high: it’s cheap and easily accessible over the counter, but is costing them dearly, write Zano Kunene,...
Cut link between political leaders and managers to save health service
The way South Africa’s health sector is governed leaves hospitals exposed to corruption. Hospital chief executive officers (CEOs) are political appointments, and so are...
Time to take the reins from politicians to fix SA’s health crisis
South Africa’s public health system is imploding, with stories of hospital failure so common they no longer evoke a public response. But that’s cold...
Growing pains: is there evidence that the medical condition exists, or is it folk medicine?
The catch-all phrase for random pains that children and teens have is so common that it even inspired the name of a 1980s sitcom....
What SA should use as a bargaining chip for drugs trialled in this country
If you test it here, it must be made available here at a reasonable price, write Claire Waterhouse and Lebohang Kobola for Bhekisisa Centre...
Medical gaslighting – it’s real, and affects mainly women, say physicians
Research published in the Medical Journal of Australia 2020 says that between 8% and 15% of all hospital admissions in the US are the...
Unproven Ivermectin resurfaces as treatment for long COVID patients
Michigan’s Dean Fritzemeier (52) got COVID in October 2020, and his life since then has been weighed down by the virus. He’s permanently tired,...
Cervical cancer self-screening the answer to reduce fatalities
Cervical cancer is preventable, but in South Africa, many people are diagnosed when it’s too late to stop the disease from becoming fatal. However,...
WHO declares monkeypox a global health emergency
Children are the latest victims to have been affected by the monkeypox outbreak, with one California toddler and another infant who is not an...
White children likely to be over-diagnosed, over-treated for ADHD – US study
White children are especially likely to be over-diagnosed and over-treated for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) during elementary school, according to a key finding from our...
Impact of obstetric violence on young doctors learning to deliver babies
South Africa doesn’t yet have any laws that would make obstetric violence a criminal offence, but calls for it to be considered are starting...
‘Dry needling’ and acupuncture: what’s the difference, what’s the evidence?
Physiotherapists are increasingly offering needling therapies in addition to their standard care. Many in private practice now offer dry needling or Western medical acupuncture...
Separating the benefits of nicotine from the harms of smoking
Smoking causes cancer and nicotine improves mood. So guess which the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will seek to ban under a sweeping...
Time for drug law reform in SA
South Africa’s system of prohibitory drug laws is a hypocrite, writes Paul-Michael Keichel in Mail & Guardian, and here's the smoking gun.
We’re all aware...
Polio virus discovery shows we can't let guard down
British health authorities are urgently investigating a rare polio virus discovery in sewage samples in London, potentially putting the UK's polio-free status at risk...
NHI a case of 'multiple impossibilities'
With no proposed funding model for the multi-billion rand National Health Insurance (NHI) yet on the table, and an endless list of financial burdens...
Re-imagining medicine’s future with the help of digital technology
Will artificial intelligence (AI) mean the end of some health professionals? Professor Tshilidzi Marwala, vice-chancellor and principal of the University of Johannesburg (UJ), writes...
Ensuring equitable access to fast-expanding virtual healthcare
Virtual health capabilities are evolving far beyond video consultations with a doctor. They now encompass an array of applications, from bots that screen people...
Diabetes: Why ‘lifestyle disease’ is an unfair label and taking steps to change that
Type 2 diabetes is called a “lifestyle disease” because it can be caused by poor eating habits. But this label doesn’t account for the...
The triple A approach to tackling South Africa’s mental health challenges
One in six South Africans suffered from anxiety, depression, or substance abuse disorders, according to the SA College of Applied Psychology in 2018 in...
Hormone therapy for menopause symptoms: two decades on, the fear of risks persist
Many women still suffer needlessly from menopause symptoms, fearful of risks such as heart disease and cancer because of misrepresentation of data from more...
Rural students could solve South Africa’s doctor dilemma
Actively recruiting medical students from remote areas could be the solution to addressing the imbalance between rural and urban areas, one of the toughest...
Mental illness often wrongly blamed for mass shootings – US psychiatrist
Mental health or psychological conditions are often used to explain mass murders, like the tragic shootings of 19 children and two adults in another...
Why independent healthcare for prisoners is vital – Judge Edwin Cameron
Management of healthcare for prisoners must be shifted from correctional services to the Department of Health so that healthcare professionals can perform their jobs...
IP waivers will stifle medical innovations in SA – IRR
Diluting intellectual property (IP) rights will dis-incentivise medical innovation and divert attention and resources away from the structural reforms that SA should be pursuing....
Is the fifth COVID wave here? This is what the statistics tell us
Judging by the number of new, laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infections, and using the formula the Ministerial Advisory Committee (MAC) used previously to calculate if a...
Don’t tell anyone that children are dying
Columnist William Saunderson-Meyer unleashes a scathing condemnation of the government’s obfuscation and oblivion regarding the thousands of children dying of malnutrition in South Africa.
In...
Political, not legal, threat from US abortion row
If American courts decide to overturn the right to an abortion in the US, it should not have any bearing on South African law...
Is it a common adenovirus suddenly causing fatal liver failure in kids worldwide?
Is a common virus the cause of an unexpected, unusual surge in hepatitis and liver failure in children, which has spread to more than...
Male body image and the potentially deadly pursuit of muscle mass
Even though men might be more reluctant to admit it, they’re plagued by body image concerns just as much as women are, writes Weill...
Venomics: Developing new medicines out of ancient animal poisons
Efforts to tease apart the vast swarm of proteins in venom – a field called venomics – have burgeoned in recent years, leading to...
‘Rage and grief’ as children die of malnutrition, while govt punts NHI that’s likely to fail
It is “completely unacceptable” that the government is busy with the parliamentary processes around National Health Insurance, while children are dying and being hospitalised...
‘Bed blockers’ take up more space than COVID patients in England
The CEO of NHS Providers has revealed that some 20,000 'bed blockers' – medically fit patients ready to be discharged, but with nowhere to...
Too posh to push: Time to end damaging anti-Caesarean stigmas
Caesarean sections are not simply “failures” of vaginal births or a choice made out of cowardice, writes Kate Townshend in The Independent. Women’s reasons...
Why did it take 2 years for WHO to admit that COVID is airborne?
Initially, the World Health Organization stated that SARS-CoV-2 was not transmitted through the air. It took two years to correct its mistake and in...
Abuse of women by healthcare professions demands urgent intervention
For many, pregnancy is known to be an honoured, celebrated and hopeful time in a woman and familyʼs life. For example, for centuries, African...
HASA chief: Medical omissions from Critical Skills List ’incomprehensible’
Omitting medical professionals, including nurses, from the recently released National Critical Skills List is a huge mistake, and is needed to overcome a future...
South Korea’s lesson to the world on how to live with COVID
Despite an astonishing recent spike in infections of the Omicron variant, South Korea, once the flag-bearer for aggressive suppression of COVID-19, is easing restrictions,...
Natural birth obsession is a ‘tragedy’ for many mothers and their babies
While the majority of women in the UK say their births were positive experiences, too many have anguished memories of not being listened to...