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Wednesday, 8 April, 2026

FOCUS: PUBLIC HEALTH

Public sector moonlighting headed towards a major crisis

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In hospitals and clinics already hollowed out by corruption, shortages and managerial decay, large numbers of nurses and doctors rely on private-sector moonlighting and overtime simply to stay afloat, Spotlight reports. Much of that work is undeclared, leaving the state dependent on exhausted staff to keep the wards running even as it threatens them with discipline for the very practices that make their survival possible. Joan van Dyk writes in Spotlight: Although the Department of Health allows some public...
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FOCUS: NHI

Why does the ANC cling to the clearly disastrous NHI?

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“It is difficult to believe that any intelligent person, who has followed the debate and thus learnt of the learnt of the overwhelming practical difficulties that National Health Insurance (NHI) would face, can still believe that the scheme makes sense,” argues political commentator RW Johnson in The Common Sense. He writes: Before 1994, most South African public hospitals were run by a power structure in which the doctors were the predominant element. This had its drawbacks and there were...
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NEWS UPDATE

After failed criminal and misconduct prosecutions, Basson faces new HPCSA hearing

Dr Wouter Basson, 75, the former head of the apartheid government’s secret chemical and biological warfare programme, will face four disciplinary charges brought by the Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA), relating to “major scale” drug production and weaponisation, as well as cyanide suicide capsules, reports Daily Maverick. Last week, Gauteng High Court Judge Irene de Vos dismissed the Cape Town cardiologist’s application for a permanent stay of proceedings by the HPCSA, noting that the charges were serious and “tip the scales against granting a permanent stay”. if found guilty, he will be struck from the medical register and not...

Fed-up SA drugmakers want nominal medicine price rise justified

The national Department of Health has been asked to explain how it devised this year’s minimal 1.47% increase for private sector medicine sales, with the umbrella body for pharmaceutical manufacturers threatening legal action if there is not full disclosure, reports Business Day. Long-standing friction relating to the department’s medicine pricing committee’s calculation to set the annual single exit price (SEP) adjustment, which caps the price increases manufacturers may impose on medicines sold in the private sector, has reached boiling point, say industry players, who have regularly complained that the annual SEP increases fall below their expectations and that the committee’s...

Delayed anti-HIV doses of LEN land in SA

South Africa’s first consignment of LEN, the twice-a-year anti-HIV injection lenacapavir – 37 920 doses – landed last week at OR Tambo Airport via two shipments from Dublin, Ireland, arriving six weeks later than scheduled, and being nearly 20 000 doses short, writes Mia Malan from the Bhekisisa Centre for Health Journalism, for TimesLIVE. LEN was registered with the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA), in October, and modelling scientists predict that if between 1m and 2m HIV-negative people take LEN at least once between now and 2043, South Africa could stop enough new infections to end Aids as...

Emergency Bangladesh vaccination campaign as deaths rise

A fast-spreading measles outbreak infecting thousands of people across Bangladesh – and which has already led to 17 confirmed deaths – has prompted an emergency vaccination campaign targeting more than 1m children, reports Reuters. Aside from the confirmed deaths, the health ministry said they suspected measles in another 113 suspected deaths, and infections had risen to 7 500 suspected cases nationwide. The vaccine campaign, led by the ministry with support from Unicef, the World Health Organisation and Gavi, the Vaccine ⁠Alliance, has begun in 18 high-risk districts. Children aged six months to five years are being prioritised, particularly those who missed routine...

GEMS takes financial strain as member claims rocket

The Government Employees Medical Scheme (GEMS) processes roughly R180m in claims and 22  000 GP visits per day, and has paid out in just a single year what one of the country’s largest private medical aids has distributed over a quarter of a century, reports The Citizen. GEMS said it was beginning to experience a shortfall in funds available for claims, having dipped into its reserves to the tune of R10bn, and with its reserves dropping below the statutory requirement at the end of last year. It added that a “delicate balance must be struck between financial sustainability and...

Covid jab study grinds to a halt after recruitment struggles

In an indication of the growing resistance to vaccinations and amid a groundswell of pushback from both the US administration and weak public demand, Pfizer and BioNTech have stopped  a large US trial of their updated Covid-19 vaccine in healthy adults aged 50 to 64, saying enrolment had been too low, reports Reuters. Pfizer told investigators, in a letter dated 30 March, that it would stop surveillance for signs of Covid illness for all participants in the study after 3 April. Enrolment was closed on 6 March, after a review of current epidemiological trends, it said. The US Food and Drug Administration toughened...

Pregnant women ignore experts, swayed by Trump’s autism theories

Despite the American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the American Academy of Paediatrics emphasising that the science does not clearly tie Tylenol use in pregnancy to autism – regardless of Donald Trump’s warnings to the contrary – women in the US seem to believe otherwise, reports The Washington Post. A study released last week showed that orders of acetaminophen, the generic term for the drug in Tylenol (known as paracetamol in other countries), decreased by 10% among pregnant emergency room patients in the almost three months after Trump’s comments in September compared with almost three months before, according to...

KZN Health MEC slams group's anti-ARV ‘genocide’ teachings

A religious community in KwaZulu-Natal that is encouraging members to abandon modern medicine – including antiretroviral (ARV) treatment – in favour of faith healing, has been lambasted by provincial Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane, reports TimesLIVE. Speaking to the iKhaya Labafundi community in KwaMaphumulo on the weekend, she said there was a clear distinction between condemning dangerous health misinformation and respecting religious freedom. The group is led by one Vusumuzi Sibiya, who calls himself a messenger, and who started the mission in 2010. His followers have turned their back on the outside world, including education, professional careers and medical intervention. Instead, they...

New ‘Cicada’ Covid strain appears to be low risk – Gavi

The latest BA.3.2 “Cicada” Covid-19 strain poses only a “low additional public health risk”, say Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, after news that the “highly mutated” variant of SARS-CoV-2 carried an unusually large number of genetic changes. Scientists said they were keeping a close eye on the variant, with early evidence suggesting this Omicron offshoot is not driving large waves of infection or more severe disease, compared with other circulating descendent lineages. Instead, it appears to be another example of the virus continuing to evolve, as it has since its emergence six years ago. Here are eight things we know about the...

School for the blind still unfinished after eight years and R200m

A semi-completed R198m campus at the Rivoni School for the Blind in Limpopo has been left to rot after multiple delays and while pupils make do in flimsy prefab classrooms and dilapidated dormitories, writes Thembi Siaga for GroundUp. The project, meant to serve 170 children, was started in 2019 and slated to be ready by June 2024. But after construction halted, building materials are rusting or have been stolen, and walls are crumbling from flood damage. It’s a familiar story. The project in Njakanjaka village was supposed to be a state-of-the-art facility, complete with an eye clinic. In October, GroundUp reported that the contractor, Clear...

Kenyan president slams healthcare scheme critics

President William Ruto has dismissed criticism of the government’s Social Health Authority (SHA), saying opponents lack the capacity to understand or interpret the scale of reforms under way in the new healthcare system, and that it was delivering tangible benefits to millions of people, reports CapitalFM. He defended the “transformative” programme, which is part of the administration’s broader plan to overhaul the national health system and ensure equitable access to medical services for all citizens. Ruto also took a swipe at critics, including his former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua – who had predicted the collapse of the programme within six months...

One of separated conjoined twins dies following sepsis

One of the conjoined twins from Limpopo, separated during groundbreaking and complex surgery at Mankweng Hospital, died last Friday after complications from post-operative infections, reports News24. The surviving twin was airlifted to Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria the next day, after the death of his sibling. The two were born joined at the abdomen on 28 January. They also shared a liver and parts of other abdominal structures. Provincial government spokesperson Ndavhe Ramakuela said Twin B was transferred after a multidisciplinary clinical team meeting involving Premier Phophi Ramathuba and Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi. “While the loss of Twin A has affected everyone,...

Popular Pretoria paramedic killed in B&B

The body of a former paramedic, who has been described as popular and dedicated, was found in a Pretoria guesthouse on Friday morning in unexplained circumstances, reports News24. Police said no one has been arrested yet for the murder of Braam Kruger, who was apparently one of a party of six men who checked into three rooms at the B&B on Thursday afternoon. Initial reports suggest Kruger had booked the accommodation by phone at around 3.30pm on Thursday, with the rooms allegedly being paid for in cash when the party arrived that afternoon. Tshwane District SA Police Service spokesperson Captain Johan van...

R16bn deal clinches Remgro’s full control of Mediclinic

In a complex R16bn agreement, Remgro and its Swiss-based investment partner, Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), will give the Johann Rupert-chaired firm full control of SA’s third-largest hospital operator, Mediclinic, reports News24. MSC will take full control of the group’s Hirslanden Private Hospital Group operations in exchange, while the parties continue to remain co-investors in the Middle East, as well as the UK. The deal will essentially see each party pay the other $950m in exchange for assets of equal value. The transaction, for example, includes the ability for cash payment adjustments to be paid to either party to ensure equal value...

After 10 years, ambulances at last for Wild Coast village

After a decade-long struggle with the Eastern Cape Department of Health, desperate Xhora Mouth residents on the Wild Coast will finally have an ambulance service, reports News24. Villagers were having to pay as much as R1 300 for private taxis for emergency hospital trips – nearly 19 times more than the R70 cost of regular public transport for a round trip. Often, those who fell ill during the night were forced to wait until morning to hire taxis for hospital transport, regardless of the seriousness of their condition, to travel to Madwaleni Hospital about 17km away. After the South African Human Rights Commission...

UFS biobank a major boost for local research

Residents of the Free State have long been under-represented in biobanks and biomedical research, but the recently established biobank at the University of the Free State (UFS) will change this by ensuring research better reflects the communities it serves. The Faculty of Health Sciences Biobank will also help train the next generation of clinician-scientists, the facility said in a statement. The initiative, a structured and ethically governed facility that collects, processes, stores, and manages human biological samples, including blood and DNA, is expected to improve the understanding of disease patterns in the province and contribute to the development of diagnostics and...

MEDICO-LEGAL

ANC bigwig’s daughter to repay millions in PPE contract scandal

The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has welcomed the two judgments handed down by the Special Tribunal last week, which reviewed and set aside unlawful contracts awarded by the Mpumalanga Department of Health during the Covid-19 pandemic to the daughter of an ANC veteran and her business partner. The 2020 contracts, valued at R1 080 000.00 for 60 000 surgical masks and R13 297 500.00 for 150 000 protective medical jumpsuits, were declared constitutionally invalid, unlawful, and void, said an SIU statement. Katleho O’Hara Mokonyane, the daughter of ANC First Deputy Secretary-General Nomvula Mokonyane, and her partner, Bonelela Mgudlwa, now have to...

GUIDELINES

New US guidelines for cholesterol management

Updated guidelines for managing high cholesterol have just been released by the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association, replacing the earlier ones issued in 2018, reports Science Alert. “Shifting the paradigm toward proactive prevention strategies earlier in life can change the trajectory of cardiovascular disease and lead to better health outcomes for people decades later,” said cardiologist Seth Martin, from the Johns Hopkins Ciccarone Centre for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease. New sections include advice about early screenings for those with a family history of heart disease or high cholesterol, with proposals to make risk estimations more personalised...

Tpoxx no longer advised for mpox: EMA

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is recommending that the antiviral drug tecovirimat (Tpoxx) no longer be used for treating mpox, after studies found it essentially useless for this particular virus, reports CIDRAP News. The recommendation, made by the EMA’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use, is based on four studies that have found Tpoxx was no better than a placebo to heal active mpox lesions, relieve pain, or help clear the virus faster. The EMA had authorised it as a treatment for the disease back in November 2021, but noted last week that the approval had been based on an...

SOME RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS IN THE PAST WEEK

CARDIOVASCULAR

Brief bursts of hard exercise may slash disease risk – large global study

Vigorous exercise has a substantial link to a reduced risk of developing eight different conditions or groups of conditions, including type 2 diabetes, immune-mediated inflammatory disorders like rheumatoid arthritis,...

ENDOCRINOLOGY

FDA approves Lilly’s weight-loss pill in just 50 days

The FDA has expedited approval for Eli Lilly’s new weight-loss pill, which works like widely used injectable medications to mimic a natural hormone that controls appetite and feelings of...

PAEDIATRICS

Simple antiseptic can reduce newborn infections – Cochrane analysis

A Cochrane review finds that chlorhexidine may slash umbilical cord infection rates by about 29% in low- and middle- income countries and reduce newborn deaths, but the authors advise...

TROPICAL DISEASES

Optimism that new drug could end sleeping sickness

Sleeping sickness is a notorious disease – a single bite from a tsetse fly carrying the parasite is all it takes to infect someone. Without treatment, one form of...

NEUROLOGY

Midlife vitamin D may lower dementia risk – cohort study

Higher vitamin D in midlife may reduce future dementia risks, reports MedPage Today.  The prospective cohort study suggests that it may offer protection against pathological tau deposits, an Alzheimer’s...

Higher meat consumption may delay Alzheimer’s risk in some – Karolinska study

Older people with gene variants associated with higher Alzheimer’s risk didn’t show the expected cognitive decline if they ate relatively high amounts of meat. Instead, those with these genes...

High-dose flu shots may lower Alzheimer’s risk – US analysis

A high-dose inactivated flu vaccine has been tied to a roughly 20% lower risk of Alzheimer’s dementia – within the first two years of vaccination – than a standard-dose...

GASTROENTEROLOGY

Three weeks of vitamin D may benefit IBD sufferers – small US study

Scientists have suggested that inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), a painful condition triggering the immune system to mistakenly attack healthy bowel cells, and can cause ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease,...

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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