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Weekly Roundup
Afrox gets contract to supply SA's public health sector
Afrox has won the healthcare contract to supply gases to public hospitals in South Africa for five years, in a deal valued at more...
UK rolls out sugar tax on soft drinks
Britain, last week, joined France, Norway and Mexico in rolling out a sugar tax on soft drinks in an attempt to tackle obesity and...
Dismissal of nurses was fair – WC Health
The Western Cape Health Department says the dismissal of Karl Bremer Hospital two nurses, more than a year ago following an on-going dispute over...
Hot chilli contest triggers cerebral vasoconstriction in US man
A man developed “excruciating” thunderclap headaches as part of reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome (RCVS) and had to get emergency medical attention after eating the...
Maternal mortality death ratios slashed in SA's public health facilities
South Africa has slashed its maternal mortality death ratios in public health hospitals by almost a third (29%) within seven years. Between 2009 and...
Change in mindset needed for male contraceptive to be accepted in SA
Historically, the burden of contraception has always been assumed to be the responsibility of women, but a new experimental pill could be the game-changer....
Netcare exits the UK market
Netcare Limited, South Africa’s largest private hospital and emergency medical services operator, has announced a strategic decision to exit the UK market. Netcare will...
Europe recommends approval for GSK HIV drug regimen
A panel of European Medicines Agency has recommended approval for GlaxoSmithKline’s two-drug regimen to treat HIV, reports Reuters Health. The Committee for Medicinal Products...
Newly UCT initiative to advance healthcare safety
A new collaboration, located within the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Clinical Skills Centre, will help foster safer practices in healthcare through an educational...
North West hospital's patients go vegetarian as money runs out
Patients at a public hospital in Mahikeng will have to wait “until further notice” before they can have meat with their daily meals “due...
Drive to improve oversight of Western Cape mental health facilities
A drive to license all mental health facilities housing more than four patients is underway in the Western Cape to ensure that provincial health...
North West doctors successfully remove knife from man's brain
Doctors in North West have successfully removed a knife from the brain of a 23-year-old man who was stabbed during a tavern brawl, reports...
Automating HIV treatment and testing to reduce stigma
Self-testing kits and vending machines distributing prescription drugs are two ways that HIV treatment is being automated to reduce stigma in South Africa, home...
No-pay policy for striking Zimbabwean doctors
The Zimbabwean government is quoted in a Moneyweb as saying that it would not pay salaries and allowances to striking junior doctors, taking a...
Leading US Aids researcher to oversee CDC
A leading Aids researcher and proponent of medication-assisted therapy for addiction has been appointed to oversee the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention,...
PE ambulance crew robbed at gunpoint
An ambulance crew attending to a woman who was giving birth was robbed at gunpoint in Port Elizabeth, the Eastern Cape Health Department is...
Zimbabwe doctors' strike stokes fears of loss of lives
Zimbabwe's main state hospitals turned away many patients and only attended to emergency cases as a strike by doctors escalated, reports News24. The strike,...
UK to open five new medical schools
England will open five new medical schools in September as part of a drive to boost doctor numbers and ensure there are enough staff...
HRC has Limpopo Health in its sights over expired meds and food
The Human Rights Commission says its prepared to summon the Limpopo Health Department to explain why the Malamulele Hospital has been issuing patients with...
UK sees increase in babies dying within a year of being born
More babies are dying within a year of being born in the UK, in a “disturbing reversal” of several decades of the National Health...
Netcare's acquisition of mental healthcare group approved
Private healthcare group, Netcare, and Akeso Clinics, a group of 12 mental healthcare facilities, have announced that the Competition Tribunal, supported by the Competition...
Patient dies after adverse reaction to 'bee acupuncture'
A woman has died after undergoing an alternative acupuncture treatment which used live bee stings instead of needles. The Independent reports that the 55-year-old...
Struggle not over for Gauteng's community healthcare workers
Community healthcare workers (CMW) in Gauteng, despite having had long overdue back pay issues sorted out, say their struggles are not yet over. Health-e...
Health workers call for NW premier's head
North West Premier Supra Mahumapelo must go. eNCA reports that this is according to public servants from the provincial Health Department when hundreds of...
Gauteng freezes hospital posts despite budget boost
Gauteng Health has informed state hospitals that all appointments of new personnel are frozen 'due to the ever-increasing over-expenditure on the compensation of employees...
Gauteng forensic pathology workers down tools
A sit-in by labour unions over a bonus dispute has started at Gauteng Health‚ amid concerns over delays in postmortems. The Sunday Times reports...
Brief issued on sub-optimal immune recovery ART
The Treatment Action Campaign Group has released an Issue Brief on sub-optimal immune recovery antiretroviral therapy (ART).
It notes in the introduction that for many...
Fraud case opened against North West Health's head of department
A case has been opened with the Hawks against the North West Health’s head of department, Dr Thabo Lekalakala with the legislature’s Portfolio Committee...
Motsoaledi calls for support of the SheDecides scorecard
South Africa’s Minister of Health Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, a champion of the global SheDecides movement, has called on leaders in government, business, the not-for-profit...
UK's NHS staff to get pay rise, may lose a day's holiday
A UK National Health Service (NHS) pay deal could give 1m staff a 6.5% pay rise over the next three years, Personnel Today quotes...
Intensified SA campaign needed to sustain gains on HIV/Aids
South Africa has made considerable progress against HIV/Aids‚ with a marked decline in the number of new infections since 2009. However‚ the Institute of...
WHO releases 4th report on neglected tropical diseases
The World Health Organisation has released its fourth report on neglected tropical diseases - Integrating neglected tropical diseases into global health and development: fourth...
Gauteng sets aside R28m for Esidimeni arbitration claims
Gauteng's provincial Treasury has set aside R28m to the premier’s office to ensure it can respond to financial implications flowing from the Life Esidimeni...
UK satisfaction with NHS' GP services at lowest level in 30 years
Public satisfaction with GP services in the UK has fallen to the lowest level in 30 years and dissatisfaction with the country’s National Health...
Hospersa reacts to reports of compromised patient medical files
Trade union, the Health and Other Service Personnel Trade Union of SA (Hospersa), has noted with shock reports that patients’ medical files at Charlotte...
Overcrowding at Tembisa Hospital a danger, patients say
Patients at Tembisa Hospital in Ekurhuleni are complaining that their health is in danger as the hospital is overcrowded making infection control difficult. Health-e...
Lesotho's deputy health minister caught up in drug smuggling scandal
The family of Lesotho’s deputy minister of health, Manthabiseng Phohleli, is embroiled in a drug-smuggling scandal after police found more than three-and-a-half tonnes of...
Uber's US health business offers rides to clinics and doctors' offices
Uber is driving deeper into health care by offering to take patients in every US market where it operates to their next medical appointment,...
New global watchdog to monitor tobacco industry
A new global watchdog agency has been launched to monitor the tobacco industry with $20m of philanthropic funding amid fears of dirty tactics by...
Disruption of water supply incapacitates KZN hospital
The Murchison Hospital in the Ugu district in KwaZulu-Natal was incapacitated after its water supply was disrupted again at the weekend, in another in...