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Weekly Roundup
Merck support for Africa Oncology Fellowship Programme
The Merck Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Merck KGaA, Germany, is continuing with the second stage of their Africa Oncology Fellowship Programme that started...
GEC offers two-year echocardiography training programme in Kenya
US electronic giant, General Electric (GE) and the Kenya Cardiac Society (KCS) have entered into a two-year collaboration to offer echocardiography training to physicians...
Natmed launches medico-legal publication series
Natmed Medical Defence has announced its launch of a series of helpful and informative publications to assist medical practitioners, health facility operators and medical...
Aspen's PE facility to concentrate on specialist products for niche markets
An additional 500 jobs will be created by JSE-listed Aspen Pharmacare’s new R1bn facility in Port Elizabeth, where the pharmaceutical manufacturer will produce specialised...
Draft regulations for managing healthcare waste gazetted
Two sets of draft regulations on managing the risks associated with healthcare waste were gazetted last week for comment within 30 days, reports Legalbrief...
KZN Health MEC's surprise hospital visit leaves him unimpressed
KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo found patients sleeping on benches and the floor at the Church of Scotland Hospital during a surprise visit...
US doctor who threatened staff and patients charged with three crimes
A patient left a glowing, exclamation-point-heavy review on her doctor's Facebook page: "My primary care physician is truly the most incredible woman that I...
Gilead gets EU recommendation for HIV drug regimen
Gilead Sciences Inc has announced that its three-drug regimen to treat HIV infection has been recommended for approval by a panel of the European...
Treatment delays and staff shortages put cancer lives at risk in UK
Lives in the UK are being put at risk by delays to essential chemotherapy treatment and a shortages of cancer nurses, medical leaders have...
Disbelief after PE nurses are disciplined for helping patients
Two nurses who assisted with a volunteer campaign to help cancer patients up seven flights of stairs after the only working lift in a...
World's first total male genital transplant
A team of US doctors has successfully carried out the world's first total transplant of a penis and scrotum, reports BBC News. Surgeons at...
Zimbabwe backtracks on the firing of nurses
Nurses in Zimbabwe have scored a major victory with the government hiring a number of unemployed nurses and reversing dismissal letters of almost 6‚000...
First national TB prevalence survey enters second leg
South Africa’s first National Tuberculosis (TB) Prevalence Survey has entered its second leg as fieldworkers visit households around the Eastern Cape to invite eligible...
Zuma's new 'baby mama' asked to resign from health NGO
Nonkanyiso Conco, the 24-year-old who recently gave birth to Jacob Zuma’s baby, has resigned from the leadership of a young women’s empowerment organisation. Health-e...
'Alarming' rise in nurses' sick leave applications in Gauteng
Sick leave applications for staff in Gauteng state hospitals have risen "alarmingly"‚ from R161m paid to 3‚244 employees in 2014 to R312m paid to...
Joburg EMS personnel attacked on a 'weekly basis'
The City of Johannesburg's Emergency Management Services says it is concerned about attacks on its paramedics‚ following two separate incidents at the weekend, reports...
Africa's first robotic neurosurgery visualisation technology now operational
Africa’s first ZEISS KINEVO 900, an advanced robotic visualisation system used to guide the most intricate neuro-surgeries, was recently acquired by, and is now...
KZN Health breaks pap smear world record
The KwaZulu-Natal Health Department smashed an unusual record at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Hospital in Durban this last weekend – it broke the world...
No action against Limpopo Health officials involved in dodgy tender
Limpopo Premier Stan Mathabatha has been accused of not acting on a report that could have led to criminal charges against senior government officials....
SAHPRA backlog fee 'inappropriate' – legal expert
Recent statements by the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA), the successor to the Medicines Control Council, that it intends to levy a...
Limpopo community fights to keep HIV/Aids healthcare centre open
The community of Moutse in Limpopo has written to the Health Ombudsman and the Human Rights Commission to ask them to intervene in a...
UK and SA-based genetics company receives coveted UK awards
DNAFit Life Sciences Ltd, the leading UK-headquartered and South African operations-based genetics company, has received two highly coveted Queen’s Awards for Enterprise in the...
Staff return to work at Tehmba Hospital after a two-day strike
After two days of being left to cope without meals, clean gowns and bedding, patients at Themba Hospital in Kabokweni, Mpumalanga are once again...
UK govt's 'hostile environment' discourages migrants from seeking treatment
The UK government’s immigration strategy is a risk to public health as the "hostile environment" it has created makes migrants less likely to get...
Under-staffing blamed for rising violent attacks on UK health personnel
Growing numbers of National Health Service (NHS) personnel in England have been victims of a violent attack at work, with under-staffing and delays in patients...
Despite bed crisis, NHS hospitals mothball scores of wards
Hospitals in the United Kingdom are mothballing scores of wards, closing them to patients despite the ongoing beds crisis in the National Health Service (NHS),...
Provincial health departments' audit outcomes criticised
South Africa’s Finance and Fiscal Commission (FFC) has criticised the National Department of Health for not doing more to ensure provincial health departments improve...
Khayelitsha hospital 'failing the people', says parliamentary committee
“Don’t hide from the fact that you are failing the people of Khayelitsha”. The Times reports that this is what ward councillor Patrick Mngxunyeni had...
Man recovering after ground-breaking second face transplant
A French man is recovering in a Paris hospital after becoming the first person in the world to undergo two face transplants, reports The...
Long hospital stays age elderly patients ‘a decade in 10 days’ – NHS
Elderly patients who are stuck in hospital effectively age a decade in ten days, reports the Daily Mail. This is according to the new medical...
Weight-loss nut found to be highly toxic to humans
It is marketed as an all-natural‚ 100% organic‚ certified non-toxic product which results in weight loss‚ detoxifies and lowers cholesterol. But, says a report...
UK authority bans ads offering online 'NHS' GP consultations
Several ads for the UK online GP consultation service Push Doctor have been banned for implying that it was provided by the National Health...
US oxygen device supplier warns on customer data breach
US oxygen supply device maker Inogen Inc has announced that it is notifying 30,000 existing and former customers following a data breach that led...
Premier appoints a team to probe corruption at North-West Health
North West Premier Supra Mahumapelo has appointed a team to intervene at the North West Health and Social Development Departments, following ongoing strike action....
Dating app defends HIV-related data sharing
Gay dating app Grindr has defended itself after an outcry over how it shared data with two external companies. BBC News reports that this...
Military pulls back in Zambia's fight against cholera
Zambia has withdrawn military personnel deployed in December to help clean up the capital and other cities at the height of a cholera outbreak...
Cancer patients face long waiting times at Charlotte Maxeke Hospital
Cancer patients have been subjected to longer waiting times at the Charlotte Maxeke Hospital in Johannesburg. The Times reports that this was revealed by...
New treatment for rare lung disease now available on NHS
A pioneering technique to treat patients with a rare form of lung disease is to become routinely available on the UK’s National Health Service...
Macular degeneration market driven by new therapies
Pharmaceutical sales within the age-related macular degeneration (AMD) markets were estimated to be $4.9bn across the seven major markets in 2016. This is expected...
Pfizer is looking for another 'Viagra'
It has been 20 years since Viagra was introduced, and Pfizer is still searching for another drug with as much earning power as the...