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Thursday, 13 November, 2025

FOCUS: MEDICAL SCHEMES

Tariffs regulatory vacuum leaves Family Physicians in limbo

Venilla Yoganathan - 0
Specialist Family Physicians (SFP), short-paid through an unregulated tariff system that treats them as GPs, are victims of a perverse Competition Commission ruling – and legal action by their peers in other specialties, writes Chris Bateman for MedicalBrief. That’s according to Dr Rajesh Patel, head of health systems strengthening at the Board of Healthcare Funders (BHF) in reaction to complaints by SFPs that they are being financially and professionally discriminated against by medical aids (see story in MedicalBrief). The BHF has...
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NEWS UPDATE

SA starts ground-breaking clinical trials for oral cholera vaccine

Clinical trials testing the efficacy of the first locally manufactured oral cholera vaccine, developed by Biovac, were officially launched on Tuesday, reports TimesLIVE – which if successful, will make South Africa the first country on the continent to manufacture the vaccine entirely from start to finish. Co-ordinated by the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC), the trials will take place across various sites, including KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape. Phase 1 of was launched at the University of the Witwatersrand’s PHRU in October and will focus on testing safety in adults. If successful, a phase 3 study will assess the vaccine’s ability to...

Godongwana concerned about plan to dump medical tax credits

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has expressed caution about proposals to phase out medical scheme tax credits to help fund National Health Insurance (NHI), saying that alternatives needed to be found if that were to happen. The Health Department has said scrapping the credits could start from next April, with high-income earners being the first to be affected, reports Business Day. Shortly before tabling his medium-term budget policy speech (MTBPS) yesterday, Godongowana said: “My worry … is that if you look at who is paying our PIT (personal income tax), it’s the same group you want to take medical credits away from....

Outrage as Gauteng Health still uses ‘blacklisted’ firms

Gauteng Health has admitted it lacks the power to blacklist suppliers linked to the R2bn Tembisa Hospital scandal, who continue to do business with the department, reports The Star. This leaves South Africa’s procurement system wide open to exploitation by fly-by-night companies, said ActionSA MP Kgosi Letlape, who through formal parliamentary responses from the Health Minister. In the Tembisa heist, 207 service providers were accused of stealing taxpayer funds by manipulating procurement processes, without consequences for  the majority. In a written reply, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi outlined steps taken since the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) interim report, including high-level meetings with...

UKZN medical school admissions graft case back in court

Seven years after being struck off the roll, a corruption case involving a Durban couple, their co-accused, and the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) medical school, is back in court, reports Sunday Tribune. Appearing in the Regional Court last week were Varsha and her husband Hiteshkumar Bhatt, Preshni Hiramun, Muhammad Haniff, Bhavik Bhatt, Salman Noor Mohamed and Mirriam Cassim. In 2018, a magistrate withdrew the charges against the Bhatts and Hiramun after the state called for an adjournment. But last week, they were summoned to appear in court, charged with contravening the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Activities Act between February and...

Defiant Operation Dudula to appeal ruling

Operation Dudula will abide by a High Court ruling barring it from its xenophobic actions, and from denying access to public health facilities by undocumented migrants, but leader Zandile Dabula says the movement will appeal the ruling, and that public clinics and hospitals are overwhelmed by the influx of foreign nationals. The Star reports that at a media briefing last week, Dabula urged members to comply with the court order for now, but said the judgment “sets a dangerous precedent that may weaken law enforcement, erode state capacity to manage illegal immigration, and undermine the interests of South African citizens”. “We...

Backlash after HPCSA fines UN health envoy

The Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) has been accused of political interference after it found Tlaleng Mofokeng – the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health – guilty of unprofessional conduct for her social media posts criticising Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The watchdog fined her R10 000 for “bringing the profession into disrepute” for what it described as abusive, racially charged and profane language on social media, reports News24. However, more than 100 South African and international organisations have condemned the sanctions The ruling stemmed from a complaint lodged by the South African Zionist Federation (SAZF) after Mofokeng posted,...

Transgender prisoner wins right to hormone therapy

A transgender prisoner, serving life at Johannesburg Correction Centre, has won the legal right for state-provided hormonal therapy. The Equality Court ruled that “adequate healthcare”, which must be provided to all prisoners in terms of law, now includes this treatment, writes Tania Broughton for GroundUp. Judge Denise Fisher wrote that transgender prisoners are entitled to access a greater standard of healthcare for their condition – gender dysphoria – than that to which other transgender persons outside a prison environment are entitled. Fisher also ruled that the prisoner, Nthabiseng Mokoena, was entitled to express her gender identity, including the use of pronouns...

Special budget allocation for HIV projects not enough, warn critics

Despite Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana having tabled a special appropriation Bill providing an extra, emergency R754.5m to the Health budget in the financial year, this is insufficient, and risks being used, instead, to settle provincial debts to suppliers, Parliament was told last week. Business Day reports that the bulk of the money (R590.4m) is allocated to provincial conditional grants to fund HIV/Aids programmes, while the remainder goes to the SA Medical Research Council (R132m) to continue clinical research and the National Health Insurance indirect grant (R32.1m) to strengthen SA’s health system. The Bill was tabled shortly before the Trump administration announced...

Outcry over regulations for wellness, beauty industry

Opponents have slammed a proposal by the Allied Health Professions Council of South Africa (AHPCSA) to classify somatology and sports massage therapy as regulated health professions, while others say it will benefit public safety and accountability. Critics argue it overlooks industry realities, threatens small businesses, and may cause widespread job losses, but supporters say unqualified people within the industry are placing lives at risk, reports News24. AHPCSA Registrar Esther Pillay-Naidoo said the decision resulted from requests from the four Universities of Technology (UOT) – Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Central University of Technology, Durban University of Technology and Tshwane University of Technology...

Treasury's plan to feed the Eastern Cape’s starving children

The Treasury has proposed alternatives to fight hunger and reduce malnutrition statistics in the Eastern Cape after the Human Rights Commission (HRC), two years ago, found that child malnutrition in the region should be declared a state of disaster and treated accordingly, reports Daily Maverick. Last week, while testifying under a subpoena at the HRC’s hearing into the issue, Treasury director-general Duncan Pieterse proposed alternatives, as his department couldn’t afford a roll-out of higher child support grants and the expansion of the national school feeding scheme. Previously, the commission had recommended Treasury consider increasing the child support grant to above the...

FDA recalls 600 000 bottles of BP drug over cancer risk

The FDA said drugmakers have recalled more than 580 000 bottles of a blood pressure medication over concerns it may include a cancer-causing chemical, with Teva Pharmaceuticals USA and distributor Amerisource Health Services issuing voluntary recalls this month for the containers of various strengths of prazosine capsules. Known as prazosin hydrochloride, the capsules come in 1 mg, 2 mg and 5 mg doses, reports CBS News. It helps relax blood vessels to facilitate blood flow and is sometimes prescribed for nightmares and other sleep disturbances caused by post-traumatic stress disorder. Teva Pharmaceuticals did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In...

Child Gauge flags maternal violence and neglect in SA

The country’s maternal health system is in crisis, and domestic violence is making it worse, experts say, warning that with just 11 maternal and foetal medicine sub-specialists serving the entire country, vast regions have no expert care to manage high-risk pregnancies or respond to trauma linked to gender-based violence, reports TimesLIVE. According to the 2025 South African Child Gauge, violence before and during pregnancy is scarring not only mothers but the next generation, with devastating health, developmental and social consequences. The gauge reveals that exposure to violence during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage, premature labour, low birth weight and maternal...

Motsoaledi urges commitment to UHC at G20 meeting

At the recent G20 Health Ministers’ gathering in Polokwane, Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi called for a renewed commitment to Universal Health Coverage (UHC),  reiterating the dire need for a global health architecture that prioritises the well-being of all individuals, reports IOL. At the event, which was the final session of the G20 Health Working Group, Motsoaledi said they cannot rest while there was still gross inequality in health access, including medicine, and injustice, in the face of preventable disease. He said South Africa was committed to multilateralism and diplomatic solidarity, and to building “a resilient, equitable Global Health Architecture”. “However, our...

FDA clears costly rare disease drug despite objections

An expensive rare disease drug was approved by the US Food & Drug Administration in September despite findings by eight data reviewers that the treatment, while safe, was no more effective than a placebo, a Reuters review of agency documents found. The urgent need among patients, along with some signs of improved motor skills, helped drive the agency’s decision, the documents show. The FDA gave its backing to Stealth Biotherapeutics’ elamipretide, which will be sold as Forzinity and priced at up to nearly $800 000 a year. It will be the first treatment for Barth syndrome, although FDA documents show eight...

Poverty, poor living conditions, drive pandemics – UNAIDS report

Poor people are likelier to fall ill, and take longer to recover, according to a newly released report by the Global Council on Inequality, Aids and Pandemics, titled Breaking the Inequality Pandemic Cycle: Building True Health Security in a Global Age. Supported by UNAIDS, it exposes how poverty, gender inequality and social exclusion continue to drive pandemics like HIV, TB and mpox, while leaving the world dangerously unprepared for future outbreaks, reports TimesLIVE. The authors call for urgent multi-sectoral action, from equitable access to medicines and economic reform to stronger community-led health systems and governance. UNAIDS said the report provides a roadmap...

MEDICO-LEGAL

Life sentence for nurse who killed patients ‘to reduce workload’

A palliative care nurse in Germany has been sentenced to life behind bars for the murder of 10 patients and attempted murder of 27 others with lethal injections, reports CBS News. Prosecutors said he had injected the mostly elderly patients with large doses of sedatives or painkillers, with the simple aim of reducing his workload during night shifts. The Aachen court found the 44-year-old man guilty of the offences committed between December 2023 and May 2024 in a local hospital. The crimes carried a “particular severity of guilt” which should bar him from early release after 15 years, normally an option in...

SOME RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS IN THE PAST WEEK

NEPHROLOGY

Rise in CKD linked to other chronic conditions – US study

The number of adults with chronic kidney disease is growing, according to a recent study published in The Lancet, which suggests the statistics might be indicative of not just...

OBSTETRICS

No link between Tylenol and autism in children – UK review

A wide-ranging review into paracetamol use by pregnant women has found no convincing link between the common painkiller and the chances of children being diagnosed with autism and ADHD,...

PAEDIATRICS

Two superbugs responsible for Soweto newborn deaths – Wits study

Over the past 10 years, researchers from the University of the Witwatersrand’s vaccines and infectious diseases analytics unit analysed small tissue samples of 1 586 children under five who...

SURGERY

Pre-surgery drugs tied to more infections – Swiss study

A large cohort study conducted in Switzerland suggests that use of non-beta-lactam antibiotics before surgery should be avoided when possible, the researchers have reported in JAMA Network Open. The study...

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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