HomeWeekly Roundup
Weekly Roundup
NICD statement on Salmonella cases in KwaZulu-Natal
During October and November 2018, certain private sector laboratories have reported an increase in Salmonella cases in KwaZulu-Natal. Salmonella was also the most likely...
PMB mortuary staff go-slow leaves bereaved families waiting
More than a dozen bereaved families were left in the lurch last week due a go-slow by Pietermaritzburg’s Medico-Legal Mortuary staff protesting over “unbearable”...
Durban hospital intern suspended for sexually offensive social media posts
An intern working at Durban’s Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital has been suspended pending an investigation into a series of sexually offensive social media posts....
Non-profit National Hospital Network gets Competition Commission exemption
The Competition Commission has granted the National Hospital Network (NHN), a co-operative venture of medical enterprises, a five year exemption commencing from 01 November...
2,500 diabetes leg amputations annually in KZN
Diabetes claims around 2,500 leg amputations a year in KwaZulu-Natal, the health department said. The Times reports that KZN Health MEC Sibongiseni Dhlomo sounded...
Report reveals widespread NHS staff hostility to LGBT people
New research from Stonewall, Britain’s leading charity for lesbian, gay, bi and trans equality, exposes alarming levels of poor mental health among LGBT people...
At least 20 hospitalised in KZN salmonella outbreak
It has been reported that at least 20 people have been hospitalised owing to salmonella poisoning in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. According to News24, Lancet Laboratories...
OECD warns superbug infections will kill 2.4m by 2050
More than 90,000 people in Britain will die over the next three decades unless action is taken to halt the rise in antibiotic-resistant superbug...
BugWise app to keep antibiotic resistance in check in SA
BugWise, a free South African app aimed at keeping antibiotic resistance (ABR) in check, has been released.
A local health expert said that with the...
Search continues for final 21 missing Esidimeni patients
Gauteng Health MEC Gwen Ramokgopa says the search will continue for 21 mentally ill patients who went missing after being relocated from Life Esidimeni...
EMS staff in illegal strike in the Eastern Cape
Emergency medical services workers in the Eastern Cape remain on strike, reports Eyewitness News. It's an illegal industrial action which has forced emergency measures...
Gauteng hospital dismisses claims that interns are stranded and homeless
The Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital in Ga-Rankuwa, north of Pretoria, has dismissed allegations by interns who claim they were left stranded and homeless...
Locked up KZN mentally ill patient found with burn wounds
A mentally ill patient was found with burn wounds after he was locked in a ward on his own at Wentworth Hospital in Durban,...
Uganda to begin Ebola vaccine programme in high risk areas
Uganda is to administer an experimental Ebola vaccine for health workers in high-risk areas bordering the Democratic Republic of the Congo, reports The Guardian....
Limpopo and KZN increase security after attacks and potential kidnappings
Security has been upgraded at Addington Hospital after two unknown men posing as Home Affairs officials gained access to the maternity section last month,...
Social media a-twitter over HIV 'cure' that smacks of quackery
A new HIV cure, being punted on social media, “smacks of quackery”, says prominent HIV scientist, Professor Francois Venter from the University of Witwatersrand’s...
Gauteng hospital's jobs-for-cash beneficiaries kept on
More than 50 employees who bought posts through a jobs-for-cash scam at a Gauteng hospital have been allowed to remain as employees of the...
KZN Health claims cancer treatment crisis 'has been dealt with'
The KwaZulu-Natal Health Department has declared that the crisis in cancer treatment, which had plagued the province, has come to an end. The Mercury...
Stop Stockouts introduces online report facility for whistleblowers
The Stop Stockouts Project (SSP) is campaigning for medical staff to report stockouts and has a webpage on their site where this can be...
Most DRC hospitals openly detain patients for non-payment
The most surprising thing about the fact that Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) hospitals detain patients who fail to pay their bills is that...
Gauteng drug rehab centre to be closed after patient dies
A Gauteng drug rehabilitation centre, found to be operating illegally, is expected to be shut down in the next six weeks, reports Post. This...
Conflict leads to a surge in reported Ebola cases in the DRC
A wave of attacks by rebels and militia on health officials fighting the latest Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo is leading to...
New, cheaper pill taken with statins lowers LDL cholesterol more
A small biotech company has a shot at shaking up a market roosted by giants, moving toward approval with a pill it believes can...
Spectramed and Resolution medical schemes merge
Spectramed Medical Scheme (Spectramed) and Resolution Health Medical Scheme (Resolution Health) are to merge from 1 January 2019 to form Health Squared Medical Scheme....
Need to strengthen Africa's medicines regulatory systems
Ongoing work on medicines regulatory systems strengthening (RSS) and harmonisation is not intelligible except through a systematic approach that places emphasis on alignment of...
Violence against UK hospital staff at a five-year high
Violence against National Health Service (NHS) staff in the UK has reached its highest level in five years, with one in seven health professionals...
Free State Health defies Motsoaledi on ambulance outsourcing
On 5 October 2018 the Free State Health Department advertised a large new three-year private ambulance tender that requires 30 ambulances and about 250...
SA's sick hospitals: Dysfunction in Bloem, limping along in Mahikeng
The infant mortality rate at the Pelonomi Regional Hospital in Bloemfontein, Free State, is almost three times higher than the national average – and...
Listeria-contaminated polony still sold in SA rural areas — Tuks study
Polony contaminated with listeria is still being sold – the potentially deadly listeria pathogen is still being found in food bought in rural areas...
Medical schemes regulator probes Discovery and GEMS
The Council for Medical Schemes is probing South Africa’s two biggest medical schemes — Discovery Health Medical Scheme (DHMS) and the Government Employees Medical...
Ebola crisis to worsen unless response is stepped up — WHO
The Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is likely to worsen significantly unless the response to it is stepped up, Reuters Africa...
UK medicine group wants govt to fund stockpiling in case of no-deal Brexit
The UK’s Ethical Medicines Industry Group (EMIG) has written to the health secretary in England, Matt Hancock, urging the minister to "make financial support...
Motsoaledi: More than 1m former mineworkers lack access to health services
It is estimated that more than 1m former mineworkers, who are in need of medical assessments and treatments, are without access to health services,...
Johannesburg launches autism support programme
The City of Johannesburg has launched the Jozi iSchool Africa lab inclusive education programme that supports children with autism, in partnership with Autism SA...
US CDC grounds Ebola experts in DRC over security concerns
The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention was forced to withdraw its Ebola experts from an out-break zone in the Democratic Republic of...
Lack of staff means OHSC dealt with only half of patient complaints
The statutory body charged with assessing the quality of hospitals and clinics is so short-staffed it cannot cope with the volume of complaints it...
Stocks of ARVs running low countrywide, says Stop Stockouts Project
Stocks of second- and third-line antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) and contraceptives are rapidly running out across the country, and some provinces have already run out,...
Clicks withdraws its pregnancy test after tap water tests positive
More than two dozen women have reported that they have been misled by false-positive pregnancy tests that poisoned relationships, caused emotional devastation – and...
Support app helps new SA nurses become more skilled and confident
What happens when you take a bunch of newly-graduated student nurses and get them together in a WhatsApp support group? Well, an IoL report...
UK to fortify flour with folic acid to prevent birth defects
All flour in the UK is to be fortified with folic acid after ministers swung behind a plan that medical experts say will reduce...