HomeWeekly Roundup
Weekly Roundup
Australia reports considerable reduction in new HIV diagnoses among MSM
In Australia the annual HIV diagnosis rate declined by nearly 25% over five years and hit a low in 2018 not seen since 2001....
Hawks arrest nurse who allegedly demanded a bribe for an abortion
A male nurse has been arrested by members of the Hawks’ Serious Corruption Investigation Unit for corruption at an Mpumalanga clinic, reports The Times....
A graphical representation of SA's TB burden
According to World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates, South Africa continues to have one of the highest burdens of tuberculosis (TB) in the world. The...
Homeless man who died outside hospital was not denied care – Gauteng Health MEC
Gauteng Health MEC Dr Bandile Masuku says there is no truth to reports that a homeless man was denied access to healthcare services at...
UK surgery waiting lists soar as consultants work to rule
Waiting lists for hospital operations at the UK’s National Health Service are soaring as growing numbers of senior doctors turn down extra shifts. Sky...
Shortage of nursing staff makes NHI impossible — AfriForum
The civil rights organisation AfriForum says in a report on the Politicsweb site that the critical and increasing shortage of nursing staff in South...
Uganda scales up TB preventative treatment plan
Uganda’s Minister of Health, Dr Jane Ruth Aceng, has launched a 100-day accelerated scale-up plan for tuberculosis preventive treatment (TPT) targeting over 300,000 people...
One of SA's biggest hospices at death's door as fed-up staff quit
One of South Africa’s biggest hospices, St Luke’s Combined Hospice, is in danger of imploding amid a staff exodus and allegations of a “chasm” between...
UK hospital trust excludes patient who demanded 'a white doctor'
A UK patient who demanded to be seen by a "white doctor" at a National Health Service (NHS) A&E and was turned away, then submitted...
Gauteng Health promises healthcare and counselling to patient who was tied to bench
The 76-year-old woman who was tied to a bench at Mamelodi Hospital without receiving treatment, will receive healthcare and counselling services at Steve Biko...
Western Cape Health adds seven new abortion facilities
Western Cape Health MEC Nomafrench Mbombo has authorised the addition of seven new facilities to provide safe, legal termination of pregnancy to women across...
87 Cuba-trained doctors graduate from WSU
The national Health Department has announced that 87 South African medical doctors who were trained in Cuba had graduated at the Walter Sisulu University...
Health group gifts 100 free surgeries for Mandela Day
Clinix Health Group has announced that they will change the lives of 100 people free of charge, through transformative surgeries, during July and August,...
Canadian doctor loses licence for using own sperm to inseminate patients
A Canadian medical regulator has formally revoked the licence of a retired fertility doctor who used his own sperm to inseminate patients, reports BBC...
NICD alert on equine rabies immunoglobulin stock
The National Institute of Communicable Diseases's most recent communique notes that there have been five confirmed cases of rabies in humans in South Africa...
NIH launches prevention trial of people exposed to multidrug-resistant TB
A large clinical trial to assess treatments for preventing people at high risk from developing multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) has begun. The study is comparing...
Doctor transferred to remote clinic after criticising Bangladesh cricket captain
According to a top Bangladesh paediatric doctor, he has been transferred to a remote rural clinic after criticising the country's cricket captain on social...
Already 12 dead in EC initiation schools this year
With 12 live lost in illegal initiation schools in the Eastern Cape, premier Oscar Mabuyane said while delivering his State of the Province Address...
Hawks arrest unregistered doctor in Durban
The Health Professions Council of South Africa’s (HPCSA) Inspectorate Office has announced an unregistered practitioner – a foreign doctor – has been arrested in...
MS sufferer in dispute with Topmed over alleged U-turn on treatment
A young woman’s health hangs in the balance after her medical aid allegedly made a U-turn about giving her access to life-improving drugs, allegedly...
Woman's birth at Gauteng clinic gates being investigated
Gauteng Health Department officials are investigating the treatment of a woman who went into labour outside Stanza Bopape Community Health Centre after she was...
Harvard students in KZN on HIV internship programme
Eight students from one of the US’s top tertiary institutions, Harvard University, have arrived in KwaZulu-Natal for an intensive internship programme to learn about...
SA universities roll out ART for students living with HIV
A number of universities are rolling out critical antiretroviral therapy (ART) medication to their students living with HIV, according to a Mail & Guardian...
Partnership to boost African health-tech start-ups
Founders Factory Africa (FFA) has partnered with Netcare, to provide a platform for entrepreneurs to build and scale health-tech start-ups across Africa. According to...
400 newly qualified nurses without jobs in Limpopo
About 400 nurses in Limpopo have been without permanent jobs since they fully qualified in January, despite the shortage of healthcare professionals in the...
Gauteng hospital's X-ray unit closed over maintenance concerns
There was no radiation exposure at Kopanong Hospital in Vereeniging, the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) is quoted in The Times as...
SAHRC pinpoints problems at public sector hospitals
The Gauteng MEC of Infrastructure Development, Tasneem Motara, has dispatched a joint team of officials from her department and the Gauteng Health Department to...
12 die in UK bacterial infection outbreak
Twelve people in the UK have died in a "very serious" outbreak of a rare contagious bacterial strain, it has emerged. BBC News reports...
Eastern Cape Health MEC meets with hospital bosses over quality of care
Eastern Cape Health MEC Sindiswa Gomba has summoned hospital bosses to a meeting in East London to figure out how to improve the services...
IVL coronary procedure performed for the first time in Africa
Intravascular lithotripsy (IVL), which uses ultrasound shock waves to ‘crack’ highly calcified deposits and blockages within coronary arteries, was recently successfully performed for the...
Malnutrition mooted as reason for Indian children's encephalitis deaths
The recent deaths of more than 110 children in India from encephalitis have been attributed to natural toxins in lychees. But, says a report...
JHB clinic staff held hostage by two demanding treatment
Two Soweto residents held Johannesburg City Health officials hostage last week at the Protea South Clinic in Soweto, demanding to be treated. The Times...
Limpopo Health struggles with ARV stockouts
The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) says it has found stockouts of Aids medicines, antiretrovirals, at Limpopo health facilities. Groundup reports that the organisation lists...
Review of NHS food after more deaths take listeriosis toll to 5
UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock has ordered a “root and branch” review of National Health Service (NHS) food after two more patient deaths were...
TAC activists call for scrapping of drug patent laws
Activists from the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) have called for the government to scrap patent laws that prevent generics of lifesaving drugs from entering...
UK investigation into unsafe stolen medicines allegations
Medical authorities in Britain have launched an internal inquiry after unsafe medicines for common conditions were stolen from Italian hospitals, sold to UK pharmacies...
Hepatitis B vaccine meets main goals in late-stage study
VBI Vaccines has announced that a late-stage study testing its hepatitis B vaccine against GlaxoSmithKline’s Engerix-B met its main goals, reports Reuters Health. The...
Free State ready for a safe circumcision season
Health NGO Right to Care, which performed 1m medical circumcisions in five years, is prepared for the winter school holidays when many young men...
CMS announces head of investigation into alleged discrimination
The Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) has announced that Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi will head an investigation into alleged discrimination against black and Indian medical...
Patient tied to bench: Don't blame the nurse, says union
The Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (Denosa) in Gauteng has defended a nurse who was implicated in a Mamelodi Hospital incident in which...