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Weekly Roundup
FDA approves Roche lung cancer drug as first-line treatment
Swiss drugmaker Roche has announced that its Tecentriq immunotherapy in combination with Avastin and chemotherapy has won US Food and Drug Administration approval as...
Call on Health MEC to set an example with 'unaffordable' new car
The Eastern Cape Health MEC has been gifted a brand-new car of just under R1m as part of the Eastern Cape Adjustment Budget.
Bobby Stevensen,...
Compensation for some Life Esidimeni families still outstanding
Families of victims of the Life Esidimeni tragedy are demanding that the government settle outstanding compensation. News24 reports that the family members marched to...
UCT hits back at newspaper's fake news cholera scare
The University of Cape Town (UCT) has hit back at an article published last week that, UCT spokesperson Elijah Moholola said in a report...
Biggest manufacturer of medical gloves alleged to exploit workers — investigation
The world’s largest medical glove manufacturer, with 40 factories in Malaysia, subjects its workers to forced labour, forced overtime, debt bondage, withheld wages and...
Lung-related illnesses in the UK double in under a decade
Accident and emergency departments in the UK have seen attendances due to lung-related illnesses almost double in under a decade as increasingly virulent flu...
2nd edition of Natmedipedia glossary of medical negligence terms
Medical malpractice insurance broker Natmed Medical Defence has released the second edition of its Glossary of Medical Negligence and Insurance Terms, now rebranded “Natmedipedia”....
TAC's symbolic march on Concourt — to thank it for HIV ruling
The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) celebrated 20 years of existence by leading a symbolic march to the Constitutional Court to thank it for what...
Health Market Inquiry final report delayed yet again
The Competition Commission’s long-running health market inquiry has delayed publishing its final report until 29 March, 2019, saying it needs more time to consider...
HPCSA says unions and employees consulted about restructuring
The Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) says that employees and unions have been consulted about the restructuring and they were assured the...
Eastern Cap cardiac catheterisation lab 'broken beyond repair’ — DA
Hundreds of people in need of critical, life-saving treatment are desperate, as the only functional cardiac catheterisation laboratory in the Eastern Cape is broken...
Tshwane paramedics robbed at gunpoint
Three Tshwane Emergency Services paramedics were robbed at gunpoint while attending to a patient in the back of a City ambulance in Soshanguve (Block...
Spate of violent crime sees security beefed up at Gauteng Hospital
Security at Leratong Hospital in Mogale City, Johannesburg, will be beefed up following a spate of violent crime. The Times reports that in the...
UCT's Xhosa and Afrikaans language immersion programmes boost patient/doctor relationships
When Dr Morné Kahts walks into the surgical ward at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, the eyes of patient Lucky Felisono light up....
Netcare recruiting patients for a collaborative five-year breast cancer trial
“New medicines, a multi-disciplinary approach to treatment as well as diagnostic and therapeutic technologies introduced over the last two decades, have significantly improved both...
Janssen to conduct southern African HIV vaccine trial
A new HIV vaccine trial, also known as “Imbokodo” (HVTN 705/HPX2008), which will be conducted on 2,600 women in southern Africa, will evaluate whether...
Solidarity dissatisfied with 'irresponsible' way NHI Bill is being dealt with
Solidarity’s Occupational Guild for Health Practitioners has expressed their dissatisfaction with the 'irresponsible' way the National Health Insurance Bill (NHI) is being dealt with....
Striking workers add to Eastern Cape hospital's staffing woes
The Burgersdorp Hospital in the Eastern Cape is in crisis, with hospital staff on strike over critical staff shortages that have been ignored by...
Aspen launches once-a-day HIV drug in SA
South African drug-maker Aspen Pharmacare has launched a triple-combination tablet for the treatment of HIV in the country where the virus is most prevalent,...
Chinese declare that gene-editing scientist is breaking the law
Chinese authorities have declared the work of He Jiankui, a scientist who claims to have created the world’s first gene-edited babies, a violation of...
Sacking of Italian health policy board raises alarm
The Italian health minister’s decision to sack the entire board of the country’s most important committee of technical-scientific experts, who advise the government on...
ASSAf launches study on human genetics and genomics
South Africa needs to develop policies, regulations and guidelines to address the ethical, legal and social implications (ELSI) of genetic and genomic work. These...
Drug-related mental health problems in older people soar in UK
Growing numbers of middle-aged and older people are ending up in hospital suffering serious mental health problems after taking drugs, The Guardian report new...
Hotline for families affected by KZN mortuary strike
Grieving families can call a hotline to determine the progress of autopsies on the bodies of loved ones while a go-slow continues at a...
Durban inches towards compromise on clean needle programme
Injecting drug users in Durban could be getting clean needles again by December as the City of eThekwini and non-profit TB/HIV Care inch towards...
SA's health system measures below 16-country average — FHI report
According to the latest Future Health Index (2018 FHI) report, in line with many developing markets such as Brazil, India and China, South Africa’s...
North West Health head placed on precautionary suspension
The head of North West Health Dr Thabo Lekalakala has been placed on precautionary suspension. IoL reports that his suspension followed his reinstatement on...
JHB paramedics disciplined for Idibala dance while driving
South Africa’s Roads Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) has welcomed the decision to institute disciplinary action against two medical officers who recorded themselves dancing to...
Another cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe has been hit by another cholera outbreak, hardly three months after more than 50 people died of the disease. Business Day reports that...
Motsoaledi, health officials drawn into murder trial bribe allegations
The names of Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi and senior officials of the Free State Health Department have been drawn into a trial about the...
Five pharmas carrying out 63% of most urgent medicines R&D projects
The development of new medical products that are considered the highest priority for people in developing countries is highly concentrated – among five pharmaceutical...
Noise in hospitals is hitting deafening levels
Noise in hospitals is a common concern among patients, families and staff. In the UK, 40% of hospital patients are bothered by noise at...
UK's MHRA issues hydrochlorothiazide safety update
The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has issued a drug safety update: Hydrochlorothiazide: risk of non-melanoma skin cancer, particularly in long-term...
Vigilance urged after Limpopo reports first cholera case
Limpopo Health has urged people to be vigilant and practice proper hygiene and sanitation practices, after a cholera case was recorded in Alldays, in...
North West health boss in R180m investigation back at work
North West Health head Dr Thabo Lekalakala may return to work despite the fact that investigations into his conduct and R180m irregularities in his...
'Remarkable' decline in global births — report
There has been a remarkable global decline in the number of children women are having, say researchers. Fertility rate falls meant nearly half of...
Key AbbVie hepatitis C drug licensed to Medicines Patent Pool
A key drug to treat hepatitis C has been licensed to the Medicines Patent Pool, enabling generic production and expanding affordable access to the...
US gonorrhoea rates rose by 19% in 2017
Gonorrhoea infection is the second most commonly reported notifiable condition in the US, and case rates have been increasing since 2009, writes Dr Susan...
UCT health sciences scores in THE world rankings
The University of Cape Town (UCT) has been ranked 72nd in the world for clinical, pre-clinical and health in the 2019 Times Higher Education...
Anti-vaxxers blamed for large North Carolina chickenpox outbreak
A North Carolina school with a large anti-vaccine community is at the heart of the state's largest chickenpox outbreak in decades, BBC News reports...