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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...
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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...

Lancet Labs fined for data breach

Numerous high-profile data breaches, leaks and other security incidents had been reported in South Africa in the past year, among them Lancet Laboratories, which had suffered multiple breaches and was fined R100 000 for failing to respond to the South African Information Regulator’s demands to address shortcomings in its systems, reports BusinessTech. Information Regulator chairperson Pansy Tlakula said Lancet had paid the fine, which was issued after it failed to comply with an enforcement notice issued in September 2024, but it was concerning that the body had failed to notify the data subjects affected by the security compromise. The Information Regulator...

Groote Schuur doctor’s dismissal over bullying set aside

The Labour Court has overturned an arbitration decision that upheld the dismissal of Dr Kwazi Ndlovu, former head of the Nephrology Unit at Groote Schuur Hospital, reports IOL. Ndlovu had been fired by the Western Cape Department of Health in May 2022 after being found guilty of several charges, including alleged discrimination, disrespectful behaviour and bullying of colleagues. He had than approached the Labour Court after the Public Health and Social Development Sectoral Bargaining Council (PHSDSBC) commissioner found his dismissal fair, despite his allegations of discrimination, bullying and procedural bias during the disciplinary process. The court found that the commissioner failed to properly consider key...

MEDICO-LEGAL

GP gives murder accused nine days’ sick leave without examination

The Western Cape High Court heard that a GP had issued a nine-day sick note to a patient – accused of murder – based solely on a phone call, without ever examining her, and contradicting the court’s belief that she had visited his practice in Elsies River, reports News24. However, despite Zurenah Smit’s hospital stay and private GP’s diagnosis, the court has found no supporting medical evidence. Smit is accused of having masterminded the 2019 killing of her husband, Stefan Smit, at the Louisenhof Wine Farm, alongside her co-accused Derek Sait. Dr Imraan Shaikh testified that he had received a call from...

Judge green-lights opioid settlement with Purdue, Sackler family

A federal bankruptcy court judge has said he will approve OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma's latest deal to settle thousands of lawsuits over the toll of opioids, and which includes money for thousands of victims of the epidemic. NPR reports that the deal overseen by US Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane would require members of the Sackler family – who own the company – to contribute up to $7bn over 15 years. The agreement replaces one the Supreme Court rejected last year, finding it would have improperly protected the family against future lawsuits. The judge said he would explain his decision in a hearing...

Nurse accused of swopping liquid opioid with household cleaner

A Massachusetts-based nurse who worked at a long-term care and rehabilitation facility has pleaded not guilty to replacing a hospice patient’s oxycodone with a household cleaner, reports Boston.com Federal authorities allege that Lori Robertson of New Hampshire removed the liquid oxycodone from a hospice and dementia patient’s prescription bottle with a syringe and replaced it with the cleaner. It is not stated in the documents whether or not the cleaner was administered to the patient or how it was discovered that the Schedule II controlled substance had been swopped. Robertson was charged with one count of tampering with a consumer product,“with reckless...

SOME RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS IN THE PAST WEEK

ONCOLOGY

Why screening for the deadliest cancer misses most cases – US study

Recent research has found that current lung cancer screening guidelines could be missing most cases, prompting calls for changes to detect the disease earlier, reports The Washington Post. Jessie Creel’s...

PARP inhibitors under-used for prostate cancer – Utah study

Experts say it’s concerning that nearly half of men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer who are eligible for PARP inhibitors – which could improve their survival – do not...

ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH

Pesticides damaging Western Cape children’s brains – SA-Swiss study

Routine exposure to agricultural pesticides may be affecting the brains of children living in South Africa’s farming regions, and affecting their cognitive abilities. This is according to findings from scientists...

VACCINES

Scandinavian study shreds Covid jab-myositis link

Previous reports based on individual cases have suggested that myositis can be a rare side effect of Covid-19 vaccines, but a study of national health registry data in Norway...

PAEDIATRICS

Obesity drug fails to slow dementia

Despite initial hopes to the contrary, Novo Nordisk has said that semaglutide, the active ingredient for the weight loss jab Wegovy, does not slow Alzheimer’s, reports the BBC. Researchers launched two...

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