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Thursday, 11 December, 2025

FOCUS: MEDICAL PRACTICE

SA's critical care sector grossly under-resourced

Peta Lee - 0
With a shortage of subspecialists, specially trained nurses and ICU beds, critical care in South Africa falls far short in addressing the needs of the 64m population, especially in the public sector, writes MedicalBrief. Critical care beds across the country number only 4 719, with around 1 186 of these beds  in the public sector, while the number of trained critical care nurses sits are just over 6 000. In addition, the exact number of critical care subspecialists is not...
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NEWS UPDATE

Woman dies after striking nurses turn away patients

An ongoing pay dispute between the Northern Cape Health Department and nursing staff came to a tragic head this week when a woman died from an asthma attack after Sutherland Clinic staff refused to help her. Hendrik Maki told Rapport that his wife, Sarah, a chronic asthma sufferer, was gasping for breath beside him in their bakkie when the clinic turned them away saying it was after hours: she died while he was driving her to Laingsburg Hospital in the Western Cape. News24 reports that earlier in the week, the same clinic had also allegedly refused to help a 19-year-old woman...

Eastern Cape turns to emergency funding to fight HIV

Eastern Cape NGOs have welcomed the allocation of R100m for HIV programmes from the provincial government – to help fill the gap left after the US funding withdrawals earlier this year – but the overall mid-term budget tabled last week by the provincial Finance Minister was slammed by opposition parties. Daily Dispatch reports that the curtailment of Pepfar funds had led to the loss of critical health sector jobs and an abrupt end to essential services in the region: a number of workers were attached to NGOs that closed down, while others operated from government clinics, mostly in the province’s...

Judge orders government, police to block anti-migrant vigilantes

A Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) judge ruled last week that the City of Johannesburg, the Gauteng and national Health Departments – as well as the police – must urgently ensure safe and unhindered physical access to public clinics, including Yeoville and Rosettenville Clinics in Johannesburg, for anyone seeking health services, reports Bhekisisa. This complements a November ruling meant to stop xenophobic groups like Operation Dudula from blocking foreign nationals from entering government facilities, and denying them their constitutional right to healthcare. The court has ordered the government and police to ensure safe and unhindered access to the two facilities, remove any unauthorised persons...

Clinic staff extort money from migrants

Immigrants say clinic staff at several ciinics in Gauteng are now demanding money for them in exchange for ARVs, other chronic medications, and baby immunisations, with the going rate for a three-month supply of ARVs being around R330, writes Kimberly Mutandiro for GroundUp. The National Department of Health alleges it is unaware of staff at Spartan, Jeppe and Yeoville clinics extorting money, but has strongly condemned the practice, and asked that anyone with evidence contact the department or police. Last week, the Gauteng High Court ordered the government and police to take firm action against the xenophobic vigilantes blocking immigrants from...

US to end recommendations for newborns’ hepatitis B jabs

A federal vaccine committee in the US has voted to end a decades-long recommendation that all newborns be immunised at birth against hepatitis B, the highly infectious virus that can cause severe liver damage, reports The New York Times. However, the divisiveness and dysfunction of the committee in making the decision has raised questions about the reliability of the advisory process and left at least one critic “very concerned about the future” of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The Advisory Committee on Immunisation Practices voted eight to three that women who test negative for hepatitis B should consult...

Nurse wins 'unjust dismissal' case over alleged ARV theft

A Free State nurse who was dismissed in 2021 for allegedly stealing anti-HIV medication from the MUCPP Community Health Centre in Bloemfontein has been awarded a year’s salary after a judge found her dismissal to be unjust, reports The Star. Nontuthuzelo Thokozile Taioe, who had been nursing since September 2008, was earning R28 500 a month when she was fired in July 2021 after allegations in June 2018 that she had stolen 11 boxes containing 69 bottles of the ARV drug Odimune, each containing 28 tablets. A second charge was that because of the theft accusations, she had prejudiced the efficiency...

GP dies while trying to save brother from heart attack

In a recent double tragedy, two Durban brothers died within 35 minutes of each other – with Dr Yogendiran Kista (57) collapsing and dying from a heart attack while attempting to save his sibling, Mahendran (59), who was already suffering from one. The Post reports that the respected GP had received a distress call from his brother, Mahendran (Smiley) Kista (59), a teacher, last Wednesday. Mahendran's son, Mikhail Kista, said his father felt ill and had called his GP brother for help. “My dad was struggling to breathe. He called my uncle and I for help. I arrived at his home first...

Global progress towards UHC, but poor still bear biggest burden

Since 2000, most countries, across all income levels and regions, have made concurrent progress in expanding health service coverage and reducing the financial hardship associated with health costs, according to a new joint report from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the World Bank Group. These two indicators are the foundation of universal health coverage (UHC) – the global commitment that everyone, everywhere can access the care they need without financial hardship, by 2030. The UHC Global Monitoring Report 2025 shows that health service coverage, measured by the Service Coverage Index (SCI), rose from 54 to 71 points between 2000 and...

Millions more to be spent on abandoned Kopanong hospital

A R146m Covid-19 project at Kopanong Hospital in Vereeniging remains incomplete and abandoned four years after construction began, with the government now scrambling to find alternative uses for the deserted building; a concrete skeleton minus roofing, with walls exposed to the weather and overgrown vegetation taking over the site. News24 reports that one contractor received more than R118m for this incomplete project, which was originally intended to provide 300 ICU beds using Alternative Building Technology, but which failed to ever become operational. Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development spokesperson Theo Nkonki said the main contractor was Condocor (Pty) Ltd, with Concor Construction later...

UK health services alarmed by drop in international nurse numbers

Experts have sounded the alarm over the sharp decline in the numbers of international nurses and midwives arriving in Britain, predicting that stricter immigration rules may affect the NHS’ ability to care for patients, reports The Independent – and highlighting a rise in racism. Between April and September there was a drop of almost 50% in nursing numbers, which has coincided with a slowing of the overall growth of the workforce, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) said. The new figures from the regulator have prompted concerns from experts and healthcare leaders who fear the number of domestic nurses joining the health...

Malaria tools saved 1m lives last year, but drug resistance rises – WHO

Wider use of new tools against malaria, including dual-ingredient nets and WHO-recommended vaccines, helped to prevent an estimated 170m cases and 1m deaths in 2024, according to WHO’s annual World Malaria Report, but the agency warns that progress is under threat as drug resistance rises. WHO-recommended tools are increasingly being integrated into broader health systems. Since it approved the world’s first malaria vaccines in 2021, 24 countries have introduced the vaccines into their routine immunisation programmes. Seasonal malaria chemoprevention has also been expanded and is now being implemented in 20 countries, reaching 54m children in 2024, an increase from about 0.2m...

Villagers build own clinic after years with no healthcare

A rural Eastern Cape village, frustrated and tired of its pleas falling on deaf ears, has taken the bull by the horns and built its own clinic. It is now in talks with the provincial Department of Health to have it officially recognised and operated as a satellite clinic, reports TimesLIVE. For decades, the residents of Nombanjana village in Centane had to walk nearly 30km and cross dangerous rivers just to reach the nearest clinic. Fed up with waiting for government intervention, the villagers rallied together, raising about R250 000 through donations and using rental income from a cellphone network...

New mpox strain identified in England

A new strain of mpox has been detected, UK health officials have warned, describing it as a mix of two major types of the virus, identified in someone who recently travelled in Asia. BBC reports that officials are still assessing the significance of the latest strain, which appears to contain elements of clade Ib and clade IIb, and which currently has no name. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) says it is normal for viruses to evolve, and that getting vaccinated remains the best way to protect against severe disease – although an mpox infection is mild for many. UK health officials...

FDA recalls BP drug for possible cross-contamination

Thousands of bottles of a commonly used prescription drug to treat hypertension have been recalled for possible contamination with another drug, reports USA Today. Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, which has its US headquarters in New Jersey, has recalled multiple lots of bisoprolol fumarate and hydrochlorothiazide tablets (brand name Ziac), because the tablets may have been cross-contaminated with other products, according to a recall report published online by the Food and Drug Administration. The global drug maker, which is headquartered in Mumbai, India, said testing of reserve samples showed presence of traces of ezetimibe, a cholesterol drug the company also produces, according to the recall, posted last...

MEDICO-LEGAL

Court overturns Gauteng Health cancer order

The Cancer Alliance says it is disappointed by the High Court’s overturning of a previous ruling that a March judgment ordering Gauteng Health to “take all steps to provide radiation oncology services to cancer patients on the backlog list” was immediately enforceable, pending an appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA). News24 reports that on 27 March, the court had ruled as unlawful and unconstitutional the department’s failure to promptly devise and implement a plan to provide radiation oncology services at Charlotte Maxeke and Steve Biko hospitals to patients on the backlog list. It had ordered the department to “update...

Private hospital loses appeal to evade liability for brain injured baby

A private hospital’s bid to wash its hands of a troubled labour that caused the foetus to suffer debilitating brain injuries – and to pin the blame entirely on the delivering doctor – has been dismissed with costs, writes Matthew Hattingh for MedicalBrief. The Supreme Court of Appeal on 16 October 2025 upheld a judgment of the North West High Court (Mahikeng) that found that the Victoria Private Hospital, also in Mahikeng, and Dr Kofi Ofori Amanfo (Ofori) had been negligent and were jointly and severally liable. Ofori, a specialist obstetrician and gynaecologist, was not contesting the finding by the High...

Stellenbosch doctor in opioid abuse inquiry now charged with gun violations

A Stellenbosch radiologist, who has been arrested and his previously respected reputation seriously dented amid a storm of criminal charges and allegations of opioid abuse, has argued that he is being targeted in a deliberate effort to smear his name, all linked to a separate civil case. News24 reports that Dr Pieter Henning, a founder and the face of Keystone Radiology – with branches in the North West, Pretoria, Free State, Polokwane and George, and which has a commercial agreement with Mediclinic – was recently arrested for a shooting in Stellenbosch, as well as failure to safeguard his guns that...

Prison for doctor who sold ketamine to actor Perry

The US doctor who pleaded guilty to selling ketamine to actor Matthew Perry in the weeks before the Friends star’s overdose death, has been sentenced to two and a half years behind bars, reports Medpage Today. In handing down the sentence – plus two years of probation – to 44-year-old Salvador Plasencia, MD, in the Los Angeles courtroom last Wednesday, Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett said that while he didn’t provide the ketamine that actually killed Perry, he and others “helped him on the road to such an ending by continuing to feed his ketamine addiction”. “You exploited Mr Perry's addiction for...

SOME RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS IN THE PAST WEEK

ANAESTHESIOLOGY

Smoother recoveries when patients exposed to music – Indian study

Researchers in India have suggested that music played during general anaesthesia can modestly but meaningfully reduce drug requirements and improve recovery, leading to among other advantages, earlier discharge, reports...

COVID-19

Covid jabs had lower risk of death than any cause – study of 68m people

A French study published in JAMA Network Open has confirmed the safety of mRNA vaccines, which were distributed globally on a massive scale for the first time in 2021,...

DERMATOLOGY

Hair-loss drug boosts hair growth by 539% – Irish study

After decades of limited options for male-pattern baldness, a new topical drug has delivered encouraging results in late-stage clinical trials, which showed significant hair regrowth with a safety profile...

HIV/AIDS

Seventh HIV cure tied to stem cell transplant

A handful of people with HIV have been cured after receiving HIV-resistant stem cells – but a man who received non-resistant stem cells has become the seventh person to...

NEUROLOGY

Another study throws light on shingles vaccine effect in dementia fight

A new follow-up study has found that the shingles vaccine – which had been found in an earlier study to slow the progression of dementia in those already diagnosed...

Carotid artery stenting lowers stroke risk – global Mayo study

A major international study led by Mayo Clinic researchers and funded by the National Institutes of Health found that for people with severe carotid artery narrowing who haven’t experienced recent stroke...

OBSTETRICS

Prenatal stress tied to faster biological ageing in babies – US study

In what is thought to be the first study to directly link prenatal stress hormones with primary tooth eruption, US researchers have said that, among mothers from socio-economically disadvantaged...

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

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