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Wednesday, 14 January, 2026

FOCUS: MEDICAL AIDS

Discovery faces CMS probe as it backtracks on overpayments

Venilla Yoganathan - 0
Discovery Health took a hammering in the media and from its members this week as it made an embarrassing U-turn on its decision to claim back overpayments to thousands amid mounting pressure; a move which has now brought it under the scrutiny of the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS), notes MedicalBrief. The manner in which Discovery handled the overpayment error to 16 500 members of its Discovery Health Medical Scheme (DHMS), drew scathing responses, forcing the healthcare insurance giant to...
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NEWS UPDATE

SAHPRA alert on paediatric supplements

The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) has issued a health warning to parents about children’s supplements containing zinc picolinate and seleniumn – neither of which is permitted in health supplements for under-18s. The regulator said the ingredients have been flagged in its official guidance on complementary medicines and health supplements as unsuitable for children, due to safety concerns, reports the Cape Argus. Zinc picolinate, regardless of dose, may cause a range of side effects in children, including indigestion, diarrhoea, headaches, nausea and vomiting. “As the bio-availability of zinc from zinc picolinate is variable due to multiple factors, the risk of...

KZN Health reverses pharmacy intern freeze after outcry

The financially-stricken KwaZulu-Natal Health Department has done an about-turn on its controversial decision to freeze pharmacy internship posts – announced this past weekend – after an outcry from unions and the profession. TimesLIVE reports that on Saturday, the department had announced that it was under such severe budget pressure that it would provide only medical intern and community service posts for 2026, leaving health graduates from other disciplines high and dry. The outraged Public Servants Association (PSA) trade union and South Africa’s biggest industry body for independent pharmacies, the Independent Community Pharmacy Association (ICPA), immediately demanded intervention from Health Minister Aaron...

Minister vows talks with GEMS over tariffs hike

The latest hikes by the Government Employees Medical Scheme (GEMS) have come under fire from Public Service & Administration Minister Mzamo Buthelezi, who told Parliament the government would engage with GEMS trustees over the “unaffordable tariffs”, which increased 9.8% this year. Business Day reports that while his comments suggest there may be scope for a reduction in members’ monthly contributions, it would be a highly unusual move, requiring approval from the Council for Medical Schemes. GEMS, the country’s largest restricted medical scheme, is only available to public servants and their dependants, and is heavily subsidised by the state, which pays up...

KZN barges ahead with untested circumcision device

KwaZulu-Natal Health has procured 96 000 CircumQ circumcision devices through a controversial tender currently being challenged in court by CircumQ’s competitor, Unicirc, which alleges these are unproven and unsafe, reports GroundUp. Unicirc has alleged that the CircumQ devices, which have never been used in KZN before, are untested and unsafe, particularly for use in boys between 10 and 14. The three-year tender will expire in August this year, with the department unable to explain why it has only placed its order now, and in the face of a court challenge. Eugene Khumalo, acting clinical co-ordinator at Northdale Hospital’s Centre of Excellence, established...

Durban hospital saluted for heart care in cancer treatment

A pioneering South African centre is being celebrated internationally for its dual roles of treating cancer while protecting heart health, with the team at Netcare uMhlanga Hospital on KwaZulu-Natal’s North Coast changing what cancer care can look like when it’s built to protect not only lives, but hearts too. The Good News Guy reports that Africa’s first and only Cardio-Oncology Centre of Excellence has again been recognised by the International Cardio-Oncology Society (IC-OS), with its certification renewed for a further three years. The centre was established in 2019 by cardiologist and certified cardio-oncologist Dr YT (Trishun) Singh, to meet the urgent...

Public Works severs dodgy hospital lease tied to Matlala

An internal investigation is being launched after the cancellation of a lease agreement between the Department of Public Works & Infrastructure and Medicare 24 Tshwane District – allegedly owned by controversial Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala – for a hospital facility in Pretoria West, reports IOL. Minister Dean Macpherson said the decision to terminate the lease came after allegations raised in a parliamentary Ad hoc Committee and a media investigation. The reports alleged that Medicare 24 Tshwane District, which originally listed Matlala as a director, “bypassed standard procurement processes to secure the lease”. Medicare 24 Tshwane District had also previously held a R360m contract to...

Three-hour wait for ambulances in rural KZN emergencies

Rural dwellers in the villages around Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal, say they have to wait hours for ambulances, because the vehicles have to travel more than 100km to get to them, while a local hospital CEO has even had to resort to collecting patients in his own car, reports Bongane Motaung for GroundUp. Senior officials at the two main hospitals in the area said the ambulances operate from Empangeni, near Richards Bay: 130km from Nkandla Hospital and 150km from Ekombe Hospital, and at the very least, a three-hour drive on the badly maintained dirt roads. Dr Mbhekeseni Zungu, CEO of Ekombe Hospital, told...

FDA asks drugmakers to remove suicide warnings from GLP-1 labels

The US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has asked Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly to remove warnings about suicidal ideation or behaviour from the labels of their GLP-1 weight loss drugs. Endpoints News reports that Novo’s Saxenda and Wegovy, as well as Lilly’s Zepbound, were singled out for label updates after “a comprehensive FDA review” that found no increased risk of such suicidal tendencies. The agency said this week that it wants to “ensure consistent messaging,” as labels on other GLP-1s that were approved to improve blood sugar control or diabetes complications don’t currently describe a risk of SI/B. Clinical trial data...

‘Stuffy nose’ nasal spray warning in UK

Britain’s Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has issued a warning to the public about using nasal sprays for blocked noses beyond a week, reminding users that this can cause “rebound congestion”. The Independent reports that a recent poll underscores this concern, with almost six in 10 pharmacists saying patients were unaware of the dangers of extended use. While offering short-term relief for ‘stuffy nose’, colds, allergies and sinusitis, the RPS said rebound congestion – rhinitis medicamentosa – worsens symptoms, with patients becoming dependent on sprays to breathe more easily. The survey of 300 pharmacists found 59% believe the public is unaware of this...

US medical groups ask court to block vaccine changes

Six medical organisations in the US plan to ask the courts to throw out revisions to the childhood vaccination schedule recently announced by Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, saying they are not based on scientific evidence and may cause harm. The New York Times reports that Kennedy and his appointees reduced the number of diseases prevented under routine childhood immunisation recommendations from 17 to 11. The new schedule recommends that vaccines against six diseases – including hepatitis A and B, rotavirus and the flu – be given to most children only after consultation with a healthcare provider. The organisations also...

Washington launches billion-dollar health pacts in Africa – with provisos 

The United States is reshaping development policy again with 14 bilateral pacts with African states so far setting out the parameters for aid in exchange for speedy information about new disease outbreaks – part of the ‘American First Global Health Strategy’, reports Africa Confidential. The latest multimillion-dollar deals are with Ethiopia, Madagascar, Botswana and Côte d'Ivoire, while the most lucrative are with Nigeria and Kenya, worth $2.1bn and $1.5bn respectively. The agreements follow the blueprint of prioritising programmes offering treatment and prevention of HIV/Aids and TB and malaria, as well as infectious diseases. That is standard Western development spending and will be...

US court allows Covid jab lawsuit to continue

A US federal court has denied the government’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit challenging changes to Covid-19 vaccine recommendations, and the case will now continue on Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) claims, the Jurist reports. The US District Court for the District of Massachusetts held that the American Academy of Paediatrics (AAP) had established standing by showing it had to redirect time, money, staff and resources away from its normal activities to provide guidance and support to member doctors in response to the directive, and that its members have standing through financial injuries. The plaintiffs further plausibly alleged...

Bayer sues Covid jab makers over mRNA technology

Monsanto sued Covid-19 vaccine makers Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna in Delaware federal court on Tuesday for allegedly misusing its messenger RNA technology in manufacturing their vaccines, a Bayer spokesperson has confirmed. Reuters reports that the patent infringement lawsuits said the companies copied technology – developed by Monsanto in the 1980s for strengthening mRNA in crops – to stabilise the genetic material used in their vaccines. Bayer separately filed a similar lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson in New Jersey federal court on Tuesday, arguing that a DNA-based process J&J used in manufacturing its shots infringed the patent. A Moderna spokesperson said the company is aware of the lawsuit and...

Pepfar fund debacle should be wake-up call, say MPs

Opposition parties say the government should do more to hire unemployed medical graduates to improve healthcare services and prevent any reduction in HIV/Aids testing, pointing that the freezing of Pepfar funds nearly a year ago should be a wake-up call not to depend on “imperialists” and foreign support. EWN reports that this comes as the National Assembly debated a special appropriation Bill this week to plug the gap in funding for HIV/Aids testing and treatment. Under the Public Finance Management Act, an additional R754m has already been allocated to the Health Department for this purpose. The EFF’s Khosi Mkhonto said the need...

Google removes AI health summaries

A number of artificial intelligence-generated health summaries have been deleted by Google after an international investigation found these could potentially harm readers because of misleading medical information. The Mercury reports that the AI-powered feature – Google AI Overviews – is positioned at the top of search results with digestible “snapshots” of key information when people ask questions, including about health and medical issues. But an investigation by The Guardian found that in several instances, the summaries were inaccurate and could be dangerous, giving users false reassurance about serious health matters. In one example, the AI provided incorrect “normal ranges” for liver blood...

MEDICO-LEGAL

French 'hero' doctor gets life sentence for poisoning 30 patients

An anaesthetist who deliberately poisoned patients so he could then heroically “save” their lives and bring them back from the brink of death, has been sentenced in a French court to life imprisonment, reports News24. He had been unable to resuscitate all 30 of his victims, 12 of whom died. In one of the survivors’ cases, the parents of a four-year-old boy were devastated when their son’s heart had suddenly stopped beating during a routine operation to have his tonsils removed. For a few minutes the medical team tried and failed to get it going again – and then a miracle...

Author accuses Lagos hospital of negligence after son’s death

Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has accused a Lagos hospital of negligence after the 6 January death of one of her 21-month-old twin boys, reports The Guardian. Nkanu Nnamdi died after a brief illness, one of twin boys born to Adichie and Ivara Esege, a doctor, in 2024 by surrogacy, eight years after the birth of their first child, a girl. The TV channel Arise News reported that solicitors acting for the couple served Euracare Hospital, a private medical facility, with a legal notice dated 10 January which asked for CCTV footage, electronic monitoring data and the toddler’s medical records within seven days. The...

SOME RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS IN THE PAST WEEK

ENDOCRINOLOGY

People who stop weight-loss jabs regain weight in two years – UK study

A landmark study, led by researchers from Oxford University, has found that people who stop taking weight loss jabs regain all of the weight originally lost in less than...

How effective is intermittent fasting for health benefits?

The notion behind intermittent fasting is supposedly simple: eat less for a time and improve your metabolism, but the reality is more complex, suggest German scientists, whose recent study...

NEUROLOGY

Experts flag headache in 46% of haemorrhagic stroke cases

Nearly half of all patients with haemorrhagic stroke also experience headache across its acute and chronic phases that could contribute to long-term morbidity, according to a recent review published...

OPHTHALMOLOGY

Gel restores sight in patients with rare eye condition – London scientists

A commonly used, low-cost gel, has restored sight to people suffering from a rare and untreatable condition that causes blindness, British scientists have said. Sky News reports that HPMC –...

ONCOLOGY

Common food additives linked to cancer – French study

A recent study, published in The BMJ, has suggested that greater consumption of food preservatives widely used in processed foods and beverages was associated with an increased risk of...

PHYSIOLOGY

Short exercise bursts can trigger anti-cancer signals – UK study

Evidence suggests regular exercise can help tackle cancer, with a recent study finding that cancer-fighting biological changes might be triggered in the body after just 10 minutes of intense...

INFECTIOUS DISEASES

Novel cholera vaccine shows promise in phase 1 trial

Oral cholera vaccines have played a critical role in efforts to prevent and control the severe and potentially life-threatening diarrhoeal disease. But experts agree they could be better. Currently, reports...

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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