back to top
Twitter
Wednesday, 3 December, 2025

FOCUS: MEDICAL PRACTICE

HPCSA updates rules for SA doctors, medical staff

Venilla Yoganathan - 0
As AI is increasingly used in healthcare, the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) has introduced new regulations to which all doctors and other medical professionals must now adhere. The new AI regulations have been published together with new regulations on end of life procedures, reports BusinessTech. According to law firm Bowmans, the changes are meant to protect patients while giving practitioners clearer guidance, said senior associate Jay Page, who added that the updates “show a clear intention to reinforce...
Read more

NEWS UPDATE

GPs dispute exorbitant tariff hike notions

South African GPs have denied that they are overpaid, saying the perception that their tariff increases are in line with the 10% hike in medical scheme contributions announced for 2026 is incorrect. They have also called for urgent action, including an increase in the proportion of the medical aid rand allocated to primary care. In a strongly-worded media statement issued by Dr Angelique Coetzee, vice-chair of the United Forum of Family Practitioners (UFFP), one of the country’s largest independent grouping of private general practitioners, the group said GPs receive only a meagre 3% to 4% tariff increase annually. This works out to...

WHO fast-track medical training plan unrealistic for SA – SAMA

A new competency-based curriculum promising to fast-track medical students into the workforce has been launched by the WHO Regional Office for Africa but red-flagged by the South African Medical Association (SAMA), which has warned against adopting it as a shortcut to produce doctors faster without ensuring safe clinical readiness. The WHO said the model, which integrates theory and clinical practice from day one, will allow countries to produce work-ready health professionals more efficiently, reports TimesLIVE, but SAMA believes it may undermine patient safety, worsen clinical risks and ignore the realities of practising medicine in one of the world’s most demanding...

SA lines up plans to make its own six-monthly anti-HIV jab

The government says it could fill the potential gap in the number of doses of the HIV prevention jab Lenacapavir (LEN) needed to end Aids by 2043 by getting a group of local pharmaceutical companies to produce generic shots from 2027 onwards, but there’s one hitch – and that involves making the API, writes Mia Malan for Bhekisisa. In 2026 and 2027, South Africa will receive donated LEN doses paid for by the Global Fund to Fight Aids, TBs and Malaria, to start and keep 456 360 people on LEN – a total of 974 450 doses – over two...

MPs demand action after forced sterilisations on HIV+ women

The National Department of Health denies ever having carried out forced sterilisation on HIV+ women, saying that has never been its policy, and that all family planning choices are voluntary and made with proper counselling, reports TimesLIVE. Spokesperson Foster Mohale said that absolutely no sterilisation was allowed without consent, except in very exceptional circumstances. This follows the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health demanding accountability from those responsible for the “long-standing and systemic” forced and coerced sterilisation of black, impoverished HIV-positive women, which it said was a violation of reproductive rights, and a form of gender-based violence (GBV), discrimination and torture. Polity reports...

Bail for Hawks officer in Tembisa Hospital bribe case

The Hawks anti-corruption officer charged with soliciting a R100 000 bribe to disrupt a Tembisa Hospital investigation was in tears during his court appearance this week in Pretoria, reports News24. Papi Tsie, who entered the courtroom crying and appeared with Tembisa Hospital operations manager Zacharia Tshisele, wept no less than five times during proceedings, where he and his corruption co-accused were granted R5 000 bail on Tuesday. Tsie is accused of telling a fellow Hawks officer that Tsisele would pay them R100 000 to prevent his arrest or have him turn state witness, protecting him from arrest in the Tembisa Hospital...

Growing concern over drop in infant immunisations

The Western Cape Department of Health & Wellness recently flagged a concerning decline in infant immunisation rates, and is intensifying its campaign to step up numbers, while experts have called for the appointment of provincial immunisation managers countywide and improved budgeting to avoid stockouts. The department’s Professor Hassan Mahomed told Daily Maverick that immunisation coverage for children under 12 months in the Western Cape had dropped to 67.4% in 2024/25, from 67.6% in 2023/24 – far below the goal of 95% needed to achieve “herd immunity”. “This is a significant gap that leaves thousands of infants vulnerable to preventable diseases, he...

KZN hospital contractor fired after five-year delay

The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Public Works & Infrastructure has dismissed the contractor appointed to build the maternity complex and associated support services at Nkonjeni Hospital in Ulundi – a two-year job that has been dragging on for five years, and is worth nearly R100m. IOL reports that the contractor was the first to face legal action related to performance issues on a works project instituted by the department, in its resolve to enhance efficiency and quality in projects within its domain. The contractor was supposed to complete the project within 26 months when it began in July 2020. It is still...

Queues, staff shortages worsen at clinics after Pepfar cuts

The slashing of Pepfar funding this year has resulted in a notable deterioration in public healthcare facilities around the country, according to community-led monitoring group Ritshidze, which has continued to track service delivery at state facilities in the Free State, Limpopo and Mpumalanga’s Ehlanzeni districts. Ritshidze, which falls under the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), the HIV/Aids activist organisation, has been monitoring the state of primary healthcare since 2018 through surveys and interviews with patients and providers, reports Daily Maverick. Its recent reports are based on data collected between April and June 2025, shortly after the Pepfar cuts. The groups noted that data...

Power outage adds to Dora Nginza Hospital woes

Surgeries at Dora Nginza Hospital in Gqeberha had to be cancelled last week when operating theatres were forced to shut down due to electrical failures. The Herald reports that important services, including paediatric and oncology elective surgeries, had to be rescheduled after electrical and backup system failures forced theatres to shut down on the Sunday. Sources said a state mortuary within the hospital was also affected, sparking concerns about how the bodies were being preserved – and while the Health Department said power was restored four days later, doctors said the situation had created a backlog. One doctor warned that if oncology patients...

FDA approves Japanese antibody drug for kidney disease

Japanese pharmaceutical company Otsuka has received FDA accelerated approval for its antibody drug that treats a disease affecting the kidneys’ ability to filter waste, reports Endpoint News. The decision to green-light sibeprenlimab for IgA nephropathy (IgAN) was based on data from a phase 3 trial called VISIONARY in which sibeprenlimab reduced levels of protein in the urine, also known as proteinuria, by just more than half, versus placebo. Proteinuria is a biomarker of kidney function. Otsuka obtained the rights to sibeprenlimab during its $430m acquisition of Visterra in 2018. The drug will be marketed as Voyxact. Pricing information wasn’t immediately available. Voyxact is the...

Nehawu objects to hospital CEO’s return

The National Education Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) has rejected the proposed return of Dr Thami Mayise as CEO of Durban’s Victoria Mxenge Hospital (formerly King Edward VIII), after allegations of misconduct and workplace bullying against him. Union secretary Prince Manthane told IOL that the decision to reinstate Mayise posed risks and threatened to undermine the fragile peace at the institution. In September 2023, Nehawu had submitted a memorandum of demands to the Department of Health, raising concerns about Mayise’s conduct as CEO and calling for accountability for his alleged actions. An investigation was launched and initial recommendations were that the...

Eastern Cape communications official cleared of qualifications fraud

Four years after being suspended, and undergoing long investigation, Eastern Cape Health’s Director of Communications Siyanda Manana has been cleared of all wrongdoing, reports Daily Dispatch. He had been placed on precautionary suspension in 2021 after various accusations were levelled against him by the department’s Deputy Director of Communications and then spokesperson, Sizwe Kupelo. Manana had accused his deputy of presenting an allegedly fraudulent matric certificate when applying for a job at the department years previously. Kupelo has since pleaded not guilty in the East London commercial crimes court to charges of fraud, uttering and forgery. While Manana, who was suspended in July...

Exhausted UK staffer takes anaesthetic gas, naps in theatre

A British hospital worker has been given a 12-month caution order by a disciplinary panel after being found asleep in an operating theatre, covered by a sheet, after self-administering anaesthetic gas. The Independent reports that operating department practitioner Troy Butler admitted he was “desperate for sleep” during his night shift and took the gas “on impulse”. His absence from an emergency operation prompted a colleague to search for him, eventually finding him on a trolley and needing to clap and shout to rouse him, the tribunal heard. The Health and Care Professionals Tribunal panel deemed the 2023 incident “an isolated incident”. Butler was working at...

WHO declares Ebola outbreak in Congo over

An Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is now over, DRC health officials and the World Health Organisation said this week, after the country went 42 consecutive days without recording a new case. Reuters reports that the outbreak, declared on 4 September after the disease was identified in the Bulape health zone in Kasai Province, was the country’s first since 2022. Out of a total of 64 cases, 45 people died and 19 others recovered, according to the Congolese Health Ministry. From the early days of the outbreak, the DRC used a revamped national surveillance system to enable authorities...

Dutch restrictions on assisted suicide to remain

The Dutch Government does not have to ease its restrictions on assisted suicide after a court slapped down an appeal from a group campaigning for the right to die without medical assistance, reports The Straits Times. The Netherlands was the world’s first country to legalise euthanasia and assisted suicide in 2002, but under very strict conditions. Assisted suicide is technically illegal unless performed by a doctor who has determined the patient’s suffering is “unbearable with no prospect of improvement”. The physician must also conclude there is “no reasonable alternative” care and consult another independent colleague, who comes to the same conclusion. Campaign group...

MEDICO-LEGAL

Health ombud exposes system failures as doctor’s widow seeks payout

The deaths of two men have been attributed to major flaws, failures and shoddy record-keeping, the Health Ombud has found, revealing some of the glitches in the South African health system, reports TimesLIVE. The widow of a specialist physician, Dr Edward Mabubula (64), who died four years ago, on 3 June 2021, is seeking millions in compensation after learning that there was no documented record of his baseline clinical assessment before the routine oncology procedure that preceded his sudden collapse and death. This after Health Ombud Professor Taole Mokoena released findings last week into the deaths of Mabubula and Pitsi Eliphuz...

San Francisco sues food companies over ultra-processed foods

The city of San Francisco sued Coca-Cola, Kraft Heinz, Mondelez and other makers of ultra-processed foods this week, accusing them of knowingly sickening California residents with addictive and harmful products. The case is the first time a municipality has sued over claims that food companies have knowingly marketed addictive and harmful ultra-processed goods. Reuters reports that Attorney David Chiu filed the lawsuit in San Francisco Superior Court, alleging the companies employed tactics similar to those used by the tobacco industry to design and market products intended to addict consumers. The lawsuit accuses the companies of violating California laws on public nuisance and...

UK court reserves judgment in misconduct case

The decision of a British tribunal to allow a doctor to continue practising – after he admitted removing the ovaries of two women without consent – is being considered following an appeal, reports the BBC. Dr Ali Shokouh-Amiri, a consultant in obstetrics and gynaecology at Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust and at Southend Hospital, was given a warning by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) at a hearing in February. He worked as a partner at the Medical Specialist Group (MSG) in Guernsey from 2016 to 2019, and faced a range of allegations relating to six patients under his care there. The...

SOME RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS IN THE PAST WEEK

CARDIOLOGY

New quick scan could hasten high BP diagnosis, treatment – UK study

A 10-minute scan could improve how millions of people with high blood pressure are treated, suggests a study led by University College London researchers and reported in The New...

ONCOLOGY

Growing concern over tattoos, cancer link – Swedish study

Sweden’s population has become one of the most tattooed in Europe, but at the same time, the incidence of melanoma is increasing, with a recent epidemiological study now suggesting...

IMMUNOLOGY

RA begins long before symptoms appear – seven-year US study

Scientists who say dramatic immune changes occur years before rheumatoid arthritis (RA) symptoms appear have now mapped the hidden immune battle that unfolds way beforehand. By studying people with RA-linked...

NEUROLOGY

Sleep apnoea treatment could reduce Parkinson’s risk – US study

American scientists – after a review of millions of health records – have suggested that early treatment of obstructive sleep apnoea might decrease the risk of Parkinson’s disease, reports...

PAEDIATRICS

Experts flag rise in premature infant blindness – SA study

Local experts have sounded the alarm after their recent study showed a spike in premature infant blindness, detracting from the progress made in the field of newborn care, they...

RESPIRATORY

Monthly jab can control severe asthma – global trial

An international clinical trial has suggested that a monthly injection could allow people with severe asthma to stop taking daily steroid tablets altogether – or at least reduce their...

PSYCHIATRY

Few benefits from cannabis for pain, anxiety, insomnia – US review

Researchers say there is scant proof that cannabis helps with the three leading afflictions for which people claim to use it: insomnia, pain and anxiety, with the most recent...

ABOUT US

MedicalBrief is Africa’s authoritative weekly digest of medical matters, both on the continent and around the world. It brings you a succinct summary of the latest developments, both in news and research, with links to the original material. Contact us: info@medicalbrief.co.za

QUICK LINKS