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Weekly Roundup
Parliament adopts Bills that will introduce the sugar tax
Parliament’s Standing Committee on Finance has voted to adopt the Rates and Monetary Amounts and Amendment of the Revenue Laws Bill, which includes the...
Wits to lead health innovation initiative in Africa
The University of the Witwatersrand has announced that Professor Wendy Stevens, head of the department of molecular medicine and haematology and head of the...
SA laparoscopic surgical team performs televised teaching procedure
A South African laparoscopic surgical team at Netcare Sunward Park Hospital in Boksburg near Johannesburg recently performed a live teaching procedure for the AIS...
HPCSA lists bogus medical practitioners in Cape Town
A list of 10 illegally practising or unregistered medical practitioners issuing bogus medical certificates for people to get off work in the Western Cape...
Steve Biko Academic Hospital gets thumbs up from Zuma
President Jacob Zuma has given a positive assessment of the Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria and reaffirmed government’s commitment to improve the country’s...
Joburg hospital gets international accreditation in breast MRI
The radiology department at Netcare Park Lane Hospital in Johannesburg has been awarded international accreditation in breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) by the American...
Brazil conference spotlights cost of hepatitis C drugs
For $50 (R699) patients around the world have been cured of the once deemed incurable disease hepatitis C. However, the same cure would cost...
Gauteng MEC's visit allows Vosloorus hospital staff to air grievances
Gauteng MEC of Health Gwen Ramokgopa has visited the Thelle Mogoerane Hospital in Vosloorus giving the staff the chance to air their grievances that...
CDC report shows gun-related deaths rising in the US
The latest mass killing outside Texas church is not part of a report released by the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, that...
Africa Check looks at Nigeria's diabetes figures
Diabetes is a growing concern for Nigeria a drug multinational executive said ahead of a recent summit on the chronic disease in Lagos. “About...
Botswana/SA venture may make isotope manufacture a reality
Botswana could soon be manufacturing isotopes which would pave the way for cancer treatment in hospitals in Botswana and internationally. According to a Weekend...
Wage bill driving health departments' overspending
The growing public-sector wage bill is eating away at provincial budgets, forcing them to run up huge debts to keep services running, according to...
UK farmers to reduce animal antibiotics
Farming organisations in the UK have set new targets to reduce the use of antibiotics in raising animals for food, reports The Guardian, in...
Survey highlights key issues of living with HIV in the West
A large survey of people living with HIV in various Western nations has shed light on key issues affecting their lives, including attitudes about...
UN report released: Levels and Trends in Child Mortality 2017
Every day in 2016, 15,000 children died before their fifth birthday, 46% of them – or 7,000 babies – died in the first 28...
Unsafe working conditions continue at Vosloorus hospital
Medical staff at the Thelle Mogoerane Hospital in Vosloorus say the environment created by the absence of security is unsafe and not conducive to...
Digital nurse to combat online 'fake news' about cancer
A cancer charity has appointed its first digital nurse to combat online fake news about the disease, reports The Independent.
Macmillan Cancer Support fears...
Award for reporting on Esidimeni deaths
Health-e News reports that its former TV journalist, Kyla Herrmannsen, was part of a team that won the TV feature award at the 2017...
New SA-produced heart valve may revolutionise cardiac surgery
A cheap mass-produced plastic heart valve‚ invented and made in Cape Town‚ is set to save the lives of millions of young people. The...
Striking guards place hospital staff and patients at risk
Management at the Thelle Mogoerane Hospital (Natalspruit Hospital) in Vosloorus have been chased away by hospital staff‚ who are angry about a strike by...
Missing patient found dead in Stellenbosch Hospital ceiling
Staff at Stellenbosch Hospital have been left baffled after a man's body was found in the hospital ceiling‚ two weeks after his mysterious disappearance...
Pharmacist accuses Polmed of 'extortion'
A Pretoria pharmacist has accused medical aid company Polmed, a subsidiary of Medscheme, of soliciting a R200,000 bribe by 'unlawfully' withholding payments.
The Sunday Tribune...
SA's patent laws 'stifle access' to life-saving medicines
South Africa’s patent laws are denying cancer patients access to life-saving medicines that can be bought in India for a fraction of the cost...
NHI will be the equaliser between rich and poor — Motsoaledi
Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi said the proposed National Health Insurance (NHI) system will be an equaliser between rich and poor, as he delivered...
Motsoaledi's spokesperson dies in shooting accident
Joe Maila‚ the spokesperson for Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has died‚ The Times reports that the ministry announced. "It is true that he has...
Plague deaths still climbing in Madagascar
A plague epidemic has killed 94 people on the island of Madagascar and could spread further, Reuters Africa reports the World Health Organisation said....
Forensic pathologists' case load could compromise work quality
A senior forensic pathologist is concerned about the case load of forensic pathologists at state mortuaries, fearing that it will compromise the quality of...
Services at Alexandra clinic severely disrupted
Services at the Masakhane Clinic in Alexandra have been severely disrupted as the staff has taken to protesting against what they believe is unfair...
FDA approves CAR-T cell therapy for some large B-cell lymphomas
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved Yescarta (axicabtagene ciloleucel), a cell-based gene therapy, to treat adult patients with certain types of large...
Sahpra board appointed
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has appointed the board of the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra), marking an important step towards setting up...
Nationwide helpline for medical students
A new 24-hour Medical Students Helpline 0800 323 323 aims to assist medical students, interns and young trainee doctors to cope with personal stress,...
SA cities rated on their healthy living profiles
Discovery Health Medical Aid’s wellness programme has released the results of their ObeCity Index 2017, based on data collected from their Vitality members, reports...
Fake doctor arrested in Nelspruit
A fake doctor has been nabbed by the Hawks just as he was allegedly about to perform an illegal abortion at his premises in...
Discovery continues to dominate medical insurance — CMS report
Discovery Health Medical Scheme continued to dominate South Africa’s medical insurance industry with almost 1m more beneficiaries than the government employees’ juggernaut medical aid,...
Scottish GPs will no longer attend to routine matters
Patients in Scotland will no longer see their family doctor for routine matters under a shake-up of the country’s GP services. According to a...
NHS staff must quiz all patients on sexual orientation
Gay rights campaigners have backed an UK National Health Serivce (NHS) policy demanding that doctors and nurses start asking all patients from the age...
Med students trained to run practices as businesses
MediSwitch, a unit of JSE-listed Altron, is helping medical students by training them and advising them on entering the business environment as healthcare practitioners,...
GP accused of patient rape remanded in custody
A Limpopo general practitioner accused of raping a 17-year-old patient during a medical consultation at his surgery has appeared in court and been remanded...
SA basketball player successfully treated for the plague
The South African basketball player who had contracted plague in Madagascar has been successfully treated.
The Times reports that the player has returned to South Africa...
Report on NHS Trust finds patients 'left to go blind'
A damning report in the UK has shown that patients in Cornwall died after waiting too long for heart treatment, while others were left...