Juta MedicalBrief

The Tembisa Hospital probe has netted more fish, with the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) obtaining a preservation order and an interim interdict against a R6.4m luxury property and the R1.8m pension benefits of a former hospital clerk allegedly linked to procurement corruption, reports IOL. The order, granted by the Special Tribunal, forms part of the investigation into activities linked to a network known as Syndicate X at the hospital. The SIU said the assets are linked to Duduzile Nkosazana Nobungwana, a former supply chain clerk at Tembisa who resigned during a disciplinary hearing. The preservation order was granted to prevent the sale...

Pretoria compounding pharmacy iDexis, which was raided by the regulator and the Pharmacy Council last month, will come up against Danish pharma giant Novo Nordisk in the Gauteng High Court next week over its weight loss jabs, reports Business Day. Novo Nordisk has asked the court to interdict iDexis from manufacturing, advertising and distributing products containing semaglutide pending the outcome of regulatory investigations, alleging it is illegally compounding and selling a knock-off version of its drugs that poses a public health risk. Novo Nordisk has registered two medicines containing semaglutide in South Africa – Ozempic for treating type 2 diabetes and...

Adcock Ingram is facing prosecution by the Competition Tribunal for allegedly overcharging patients for its kidney dialysis products. Business Day reports that the Competition Commission said in a statement yesterday that it is seeking an order declaring that the company’s hospital division, Adcock Ingram Critical Care (AICC), contravened section 8 (1)(a) of the Competition Act and is liable for a penalty of up to 10% of its annual turnover. Adcock Ingram, jointly owned by Bidvest Group and Indian Natco Pharma, delisted from the JSE last year. Neither Adcock Ingram nor Bidvest was immediately available for comment. AICC contributed R2.18bn to Adcock Ingram’s...

The official ending of the 43-year-long relationship between Medscheme and Bonitas Medical Fund on Monday, when Momentum Health stepped in as the new administrator of the fund, has been marked by bottlenecks and frustration from members, reports BusinessTech. The biggest transfer ever of a medical scheme from one provider to another – which has added 750 000 beneficiaries to Momentum’s administration – has swelled its market share from 22% to 30%. But for many of the hundreds of thousands of Bonitas members, it has been a week of upheaval and frustration, reports News24, with scores of angry and frustrated beneficiaries taking to...

The Constitutional Court recently ruled the Certificate of Need (CoN) sections of the National Health Act unconstitutional, and in a Sunday Times Q&A last weekend, Chris Barron put Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi on the spot over the impact of the judgment. On whether the ruling would weaken the NHI, Motsoaledi replied: “No, not at all,” and said he didn’t remember having said that the CoN was “a central pillar of NHI”. Asked if its invalidation undermined the principle of central control on which NHI relies, he said the certificate “is not necessarily about central control,” and was not about the State...

The SA Human Rights Commission said there is no evidence or data showing that foreign nationals are causing overcrowding at local hospitals, telling a virtual imbizo last week that data collected over three years from the Department of Health showed, in fact, that these numbers remained low, reports eNCA. The meeting focused on concerns related to recent marches against undocumented migrants, but tempers frayed as several participants expressed strong anti-immigration sentiments to the Commission, which instead, had said documentation revealed cases of violence, displacement and threats to public safety, requiring an urgent, co-ordinated response. Attendees criticised the body for failing to...

After a complaint by Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi about a 5% discount Dis-Chem customers get on non-dispensary products, an investigation has been launched by the Competition Commission, reports News24. Separately, the Independent Community Pharmacy Association (ICPA) has also lodged a complaint with the South African Pharmacy Council about the discount. As part of the retailer’s new Better Rewards loyalty programme, customers receive 5% discount on non-dispensary products if they fill their prescriptions at Dis-Chem. Competition Commission spokesperson Siya Makunga confirmed the agency was now investigating to determine whether the programme was structured “in a way that could potentially restrict competition, specifically if...

The owner of a controversial Eastern Cape rehabilitation centre near Butterworth – and six of his staff – were due to appear in court on charges of attempted murder and kidnapping after the alleged assault of a 26-year-old patient, reports Daily Dispatch. It is not the first time the facility, Khulalani Abantu Bam, has made headlines over the past 10 years, with allegations of abuse and inhumane conditions dating back as far as 2017, when investigations revealed poor living conditions and abuse. Though registered as a non-profit organisation in 2015, it is not licensed as a drug treatment centre, but has...

Hantavirus and Ebola are making headlines. But another deadly outbreak is unfolding that’s barely registered on the global scene – a devastating measles outbreak in Bangladesh, reports NPR. “We’ve been crying out loud about this from the beginning, but it has been a silent situation,” said Hasina Rahman. “There hasn’t been much attention around it.” Since the virus took off in mid-March, the country has tallied more than 60 000 suspected cases and 528 suspected measles-related deaths. Most of the sick and dead are children under five. “It is huge, with just so much strain on the healthcare systems,” said Rahman, who...

As the Ebola virus continues to spread, and to claim lives – with more than 1 000 suspected cases in the DRC, nine confirmed cases in neighbouring Uganda, and around 250 deaths – three new vaccines are being developed to tackle this latest, rare species, while other drug-makers mull over repurposing Covid treatments, reports the BBC. The WHO reports that there are 321 confirmed cases in the DRC and 116 suspected cases, with 48 confirmed deaths and more than 240 suspected deaths. Uganda has confirmed nine cases and one death, and one suspected case. The International Aids Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), which is working on...

'Failure was never an option,” said Afrigen Biologics CEO Professor Petro Terblanche last week as the company – which developed an mRNA vaccine from scratch during Covid-19 – became the first African facility to be certified to manufacture investigational biological products for phase I and 2 clinical trials, writes Kerry Cullinan for Health Policy Watch. The recognition means it now meets internationally recognised pharmaceutical manufacturing standards, and Terblanche paid tribute to her team, the WHO, Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) and several key donors as the facility celebrated receiving its Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certification from the South African Health Products...

Occupational health standards are waning due to “inexperienced” new players, Life Healthcare CEO Peter Wharton-Hood told Business Day last week, warning that companies are increasingly opting for lower prices over quality when choosing wellness services for their employees. The group’s unit Life Health Solutions is one of the leading occupational health, wellness and health risk management outfits, partnering with businesses countrywide to provide employee wellness programmes, primary healthcare and emergency medical services. “Life Health Solutions is, in the main, an occupational health services company,”he said. “Yet while demand for those services remains – because it is a statutory obligation on companies...

Complaints alleging unhygienic and filthy conditions at a hospital in Gqeberha have been deflected by the Eastern Cape Department of Health, which said the allegations “did not reflect the overall condition of the hospital or the standard of care provided there”, reports IOL. Patient Shaun Claasen, who spent three days at the facility, made a point of praising the healthcare workers and staff who attended to him, saying their compassion, despite the challenges they face, was in stark contrast to the state of the ward itself. But beyond the kindness of nurses and doctors, he described an environment he alleged was...

The DA in Gauteng has called the province’s Health Department disrespectful after it ignored a legislature motion requiring it to report within six months on plans to honour slain whistle-blower Babita Deokaran, reports EWN. The deadline for the report-back passed last week – 25 May – with Deokaran’s family saying it had not been consulted, despite commitments made by the department. The party said it would be asking the Speaker of the Gauteng legislature to censure the department’s leadership, while continuing to push for a memorial that reflects the wishes of Deokaran’s family. DA health spokesman Jack Bloom said failure to act...

Pretoria East midwife Yolande Maritz Fouchee will spend 23 years behind bars for her negligent practices that led to the tragic deaths and disabilities of several infants, reports IOL News. As Judge Papi Mosopa delivered his judgment in the Gauteng High Court last week, several mothers whose children suffered fates varying from death to being disabled after being born at Fouchee’s clinic hugged each other in tears, and thanked prosecutor Jennifer Cronje afterwards for bringing Fouchee to justice. Two mothers opted not to bring charges against Fouchee as they were not prepared to face the further trauma of a trial. Between 2019...

The Gauteng MEC for Health has been ordered by the Supreme Court to pay damages to a woman whose womb was removed after complications during childbirth – this after attempts to overturn an earlier High Court decision concluding that medical staff were possibly negligent, reports The Citizen. While the SCA set aside parts of the original ruling, it upheld the finding that the mother is entitled to damages linked to the hysterectomy. The case dates back to 23 April 2016 when a pregnant woman, identified as CBM sought medical assistance at a clinic in Soshanguve after her waters broke. She was...

The National Health Laboratory Services and the National Institute of Communicable Diseases failed to meet the expected constitutional standards in the long-running listeriosis case, according to a judge, who last week ordered them to pay punitive costs to the applicants and Tiger Brands, reports TimesLIVE. This followed their 11th hour filing of an “explanatory affidavit” the night before the due court date when they were supposed to disclose important and relevant information relating to the investigation. In a stern rebuke of state litigation tactics, Judge Stuart Wilson ruled in the Gauteng High Court on Wednesday that the NHLS and NICD must...