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Weekly Roundup
Gauteng improves capacity to cope with gender-based violence
Gauteng Health has launched a clinical forensic medical services facility during 16 days of activism in Bekkersdal. "The opening of the Bekkersdal clinical forensic...
WHO and Unicef evacuate staff from Ebola area over safety concerns
The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) has evacuated dozens of their staff working on the Ebola epidemic from...
Indian doctors remove 7.4kg kidney
Indian doctors have removed a kidney weighing 7.4kg (16.3lbs) from a patient, reports BBC News.
It's believed to be the largest kidney ever removed...
SA's HIV/Aids response need to move into higher gear — Mabuza
Progress reports from a number of provinces received by the South African National Aids Council (Sanac) indicate that the response to HIV/Aids needs to...
Life Healthcare looking to exit from its Polish business Scanmed
Private hospital group Life Healthcare is exploring an exit from its Polish business Scanmed, which has been hit hard by government-imposed tariff cuts, reports...
Drone service firm in talks to deliver drugs in Uganda
A drone service firm is in talks with the Ugandan government on a deal to deliver blood packages, drugs and medical equipment to public...
UK nurse sues NHS trust after suffering racist assault and abuse
A UK National Health Service (NHS) nurse is locked in a legal battle with his employer after being assaulted and abused by a patient...
First diagnostic health app launched in Swahili
An innovative chat-bot that helps patients and doctors diagnose diseases ranging from malaria to diabetes has become the first health app to launch in...
KZN nurse suspended after abusive video goes viral
A 30-second video clip showing a KwaZulu-Natal nurse verbally abusing a patient at Umlazi's Prince Mshiyeni Hospital has resulted in her suspension.
The Times...
Global Drug Survey 2020 aims to be the biggest study of medical cannabis use
As medical cannabis becomes regulated and available via a physician’s recommendation (in the US) or a prescription in other countries, the possibilities and promise...
Patients again having to use the stairs at 16-storey Addington Hospital
Patients at Addington Hospital had to once again use the stairs because its lifts were broken, says an Independent on Saturday report after they...
FDA approves China-based drug maker's lymphoma treatment
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved BeiGene Ltd’s lymphoma treatment, validating the China-based drug-maker’s strategy of largely using data from trials...
AU and WHO sign MoU on health co-operation
The African Union (AU) Commission and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have signed an historic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) cementing their mutual commitment to...
UK's A&E waiting times at their worst ever
Accident and Emergency (A&E) waiting times in the UK are at their worst on record as the National Health Service (NHS) comes under intense...
Stay-at-home EMS workers in Eastern Cape in overtime scandal
Emergency Medical Services workers in the Eastern Cape are staying home on leave, but are still being paid overtime, because their names appear on...
'It's not a crime to ask for a living wage' – Zimbabwe's doctors
Doctors operating in Zimbabwe are sometimes so hungry, they collapse during critical procedures. According to a Sunday Times report, this is one of the...
New Groote Schuur facility to improve study and treatment of TB
The establishment of a new medical diagnostic facility at Groote Schuur Hospital is set to drastically improve the study and treatment of tuberculosis. According...
Section 27: SA government 'not doing enough' to protect women's reproduction health rights
It is troubling to compare to what extent the sexual and reproductive health rights of men and women in South Africa are guaranteed, writes...
Over 4.5m people now living with diabetes in SA, as numbers continue to rise
On World Diabetes Day, the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) is releasing new figures that highlight the alarming growth in the prevalence of diabetes around...
UK's NHS running short of dozens of medicines
The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) is running short of dozens of lifesaving medicines including treatments for cancer, heart conditions and epilepsy, The Guardian...
NHI 'nothing more than a cash grab' – AfriForum
Lobby group AfriForum has described government's proposed National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme as nothing more than a cash grab to make up for the...
No end in sight to year-long crisis at EC's Livingstone Hospital
It has been a year since the entire management team of Livingstone Hospital, one of the big tertiary hospitals in the Eastern Cape and...
UK's medical authority approves two cannabis-based medicines
Two cannabis-based medicines used to treat epilepsy and multiple sclerosis have been approved for use by the UK’s National Health Service (NHS), reports The...
Uncertainty over future of Hout Bay clinic causes concern
Uncertainty over whether the Hout Bay CDC which caters to about 4,500 patients a month is opening or closing has caused many Hangberg residents...
Gauteng Health's 11 new hospital CEOs
Gauteng Health MEC Bandile Masuku is hoping the deployment of new CEOs to take charge of various state hospitals will help improve services as...
Unemployed nurses march on KZN Health head office
“Patients are dying on hospital benches while hundreds of nurses are unemployed,” says Nonhlanhla Mazibuko. According to a Groundup report, she was one of...
Namibia trains nurses to tackle HIV in prisons
A total of 592 inmates in Namibian prisons are living with HIV out of a population of 4 561. The Namibian reports that this...
CCTV used to combat drug gangs operating inside UK hospitals
Hospitals in the UK are being forced to deploy CCTV and separate rival gangs in their efforts to combat a nationwide drug epidemic which...
Google's deal with US health firm attracts widespread criticism
Google has gained access to a huge trove of US patient data – without the need to notify those patients – thanks to a...
SA's occupational health authority initiates national disease surveillance project
The National Institute for Occupational Health (NIOH) in South Africa, through its epidemiology and surveillance section, has initiated a national surveillance project to determine...
Corpses left at accident scenes while EC Forensic Pathology employees strike
Corpses left at accident scenes while Eastern Cape Forensic Pathology employees strike. Jane Cowley, Eastern Cape shadow MEC for health writes that since Friday...
PMB doctor's body found at the bottom of Howick Falls
Pietermaritzburg doctor Vidhwan Singh's body has been found at the bottom of Howick Falls, KwaZulu-Natal, reports The Times. Singh, 70, had been missing for...
SA pharmas withdraw heartburn meds over safety concerns
Four pharmaceutical manufacturers have removed their medicines which suppress stomach acid from South African shelves and another two drugmakers have quarantined their imports over...
EC Health officials investigated by SIU for theft, fake qualifications
Five Eastern Cape Health Department officials are being investigated by the Special Investigative Unit and SA Police Service (SAPS) on allegations theft, having fake...
DA says problems at Kuruman hospital another indication of challenges for NHI
Andrew Louw, Democratic Alliance (DA) Northern Cape provincial leader writes in a report on the Politicsweb site:
It is unconscionable that the government remains insistent...
Non-payment of contractor delays completion of psychiatric ward at Charlotte Maxeke
The psychiatric ward at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital is in dire need of renovation, but completion of the work has been delayed yet...
PE's acute psychiatric unit opens at last, but with no resident psychiatrist
After missing five deadlines to open an acute psychiatric unit at Port Elizabeth Provincial Hospital, Eastern Cape Health finally opened the facility on Thursday...
Baragwanath's long queues and rude staff head list of patients' complaints
In July, Gauteng Premier David Makhura promised that his government would prioritise public health care, pledging to visit public hospitals each week as part...
Gauteng Health's staff morale-boosting programme hit by corruption claims
Gauteng’s recently launched Employee Value Proposition (EVP) programme has been met with dissatisfaction by employees who are meant to benefit from it. Corruption allegations...
What the MTB tells us about the state of healthcare in SA — Health-e News
National finance Minister Tito Mboweni delivered his mid-term budget speech on Wednesday of last week which showed that despite slow economic growth, the health...