HomeWeekly Roundup
Weekly Roundup
EC approves Roche's lung cancer drug in combo Tx
Roche has received European Commission approval for its Tecentriq drug in combination with Avastin and chemotherapy as an initial treatment for people with a...
Enthusiasm but also caution over new depression drug
Patients with major depression who haven’t responded to other treatments will soon have a new option: esketamine, a rapid-acting therapy derived from the long-used...
Stephen Hawking's former nurse facing misconduct allegations
Stephen Hawking's former nurse has been suspended and is facing a misconduct allegation over his care, reports BBC News. Patricia Dowdy, 61, who worked...
New Zealand measles outbreak causing serious concern
A measles outbreak on the south island of New Zealand is causing serious concern, with 22 confirmed cases and emergency supplies of vaccine being...
Public satisfaction with NHS GP services at lowest level in a decade
Public satisfaction with the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) is at its lowest level for a decade, reports The Guardian. Barely half of people...
US is facing a suicide crisis, latest figures show
More than 150,000 Americans died from alcohol and drug-induced fatalities and suicide in 2017. According to a report in The New York Times, nearly...
Gauteng Health finds more Life Esidimeni patients
Another patient who survived the Life Esidimeni tragedy has been located by the Gauteng Health Department bringing the number of unaccounted patients now to...
UK hospitals withdraw surgical device over aluminium exposure fears
Several hospitals in the UK have withdrawn a widely-used surgical device over fears that it could expose patients to dangerous levels of aluminium, The...
Open-access CPD points for SA health professionals
South African health professionals are now be able to earn their CPD points free and online by watching medical lectures and presentations on Medtalkz....
PrEP guidelines/links to resources for medical practitioners in SA
South African guidelines recommend that pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) should be considered for people who are HIV-negative and at significant risk of acquiring HIV infection....
40% of NHS staff sick annually from work-related stress
Two in five National Health Service (NHS) staff in England felt sick from the stress of their job at some point last year. The...
UCT research project into TB one of three Africa-focused seed fund winners
A University of Cape Town tuberculosis research project is one of three winners of the first Africa-fcoused seed fund, which will bring together the...
Mining industry's anti-TB campaign cuts occupational disease deaths
South Africa's mining industry has recorded a 3% decrease in the total number of occupational diseases reported nationally for 2017 compared with the previous...
Most UK women mistakenly believe pap smear will detect ovarian cancer
Almost a half (47%) of women in the UK incorrectly believe that cervical screening (commonly known as the smear test) will detect ovarian cancer....
Birth control stockouts remain a problem in SA
A national shortage of the bimonthly injectable contraceptive Nur-Isterate is now entering its second year. According to Bhekisisa, it first received reports about contraceptive...
Robot from CSIR/Right ePharmacy to improve medicine dispensing
South African healthcare is set for an efficiency boost with a new medicine dispensing robot that will deliver medication in a more convenient and...
Health Department to be relocated from 'unsafe' Pretoria building
The national Health Department is expected to relocate from the "unsafe" Civitas building in Pretoria, reports The Times. The decision follows numerous meetings between...
Health minister tells NHS doctors to ditch their 'archaic' pagers
Doctors in the UK must ditch their pagers and use WhatsApp-style messaging instead. The Irish Sun reports that this is according to Health Minister...
SA health experts call for ban on use of colistin in agriculture
Health experts have called for the urgent implementation of a ban on the use of the "last resort" antibiotic colistin on farms, because of...
FDA plans to update regulation of dietary supplements
The use of dietary supplements has risen precipitously in the past decade, with the fastest growth in Asia Pacific, but also substantially in Europe...
Kenya reports second highest use of PrEP in the world
About 54,000 Kenyans are now using the daily HIV prevention pill – up from 9,000 a year ago. This puts the country second after...
Tanzania using electronic data in bid to reach 100% vaccination coverage
The Tanzanian government has introduced a cold chain monitoring and electronic data collection systems in a bid to reach 100% vaccination coverage by next...
More young Brits dying from asthma than anywhere in Europe
Young Britons are dying from asthma at a higher rate than any of the other European countries examined in a study, The Guardian reports...
NW Health investigates concerns raised at Witrand Psychiatric Hospital
North West Health MEC Madoda Sambatha has appointed a task team to investigate concerns raised by workers at Witrand Psychiatric Hospital in Potchefstroom following...
Repeatedly delayed market inquiry report due 30 September
The five-year-old private healthcare market inquiry is now expected to have been concluded by 30 September, according to a Competition Commission notice gazetted on...
Natmed releases more advice in its 'What if…' series
Natmed Medical Defence has released the third and fourth of the Natmed What if? series: What if: I Receive a Request for Records? part...
New SA legislation could hobble international research collaborations
South Africa's varied population makes it a magnet for research on public health and human diversity. But, notes a report in Science Mag, a...
KZN increase in abandoned babies blamed on poorly functioning health system
Medical experts blame a poorly functioning health system as the leading cause for the increasing number of abandoned new-born babies in KZN, according to...
Suspension of top CMS official explained
The Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) has tried to allay fears about its internal processes following the suspension of a top official for alleged...
NHI rollout 'on track' despite problems in SA's healthcare system
Government does not believe it can wait until the healthcare system is improved before implementing national health insurance. Fin24 reports that this is according...
Government delays erode savings made on new HIV-drug tender
The SA government has negotiated the world’s lowest price for a new HIV pill containing dolutegravir, but delays in awarding contracts to pharmaceutical companies...
SA's child cancer sufferers falling through the cracks
More than half South Africa’s children and adolescents diagnosed with cancer each year are either not being treated or not being reported to the...
Germany set to ban sexual conversion therapies
German Health Minister Jens Spahn has announced he will seek to ban conversion therapies that claim to change sexual orientation. "Homosexuality is not an...
KZN schools issue warnings after infectious meningitis death
At least 40 pupils as well as doctors, nurses and teachers in Amanzimtoti have been placed on antibiotics to prevent them from contracting a...
Campaign to promote HIV testing reaches over 10m men in SA
Over 10m men have been reached through health NGO Right to Care’s Me1st campaign, launched in November last year to empower men to put...
Facebook urged to curb anti-vaccination posts
Facebook could finally be curbing its spread of false information on the danger of vaccinations. A Sunday Times report says that the anti-vaxxer movement...
Stellenbosch builds Africa-focused biomedical research centre
Stellenbosch University has started building a new Biomedical Research Institute which will investigate diseases that have the greatest impact on South Africa and the...
Western Cape Health embarks on HPV vaccination drive
The Western Cape Health Department is vaccinating 9-year-old girls in public schools against the human papilloma-virus which has been linked to cervical cancer. According...
Gauteng Health denies not taking steps to deal with 'unsafe' Bank of Lisbon building
The Gauteng Health Department has denied allegations that senior officials had not taken steps to deal with complaints regarding safety issues at the Bank...
SA has 20% fewer oncologists than two years ago
According to the 2018 annual census of clinical and radiation oncologists conducted by the South African Society of Clinical and Radiation Oncology, although the...