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Wednesday, 22 October, 2025

FOCUS: HEALTH GOVERNANCE

Durban hospital embroiled in Tembisa-style corruption

Venilla Yoganathan - 0
As the fall-out from the grand-scale corruption at Tembisa Hospital continues, another state hospital – the flagship Chief Albert Luthuli Hospital in Durban – has been caught up in a criminal syndicate, the details of which were revealed in the High Court this week. With a modus operandi similar to that of the syndicates that fleeced billions of rands from Tembisa Hospital, the state alleges that Consulens Medical Healthcare Solutions was sub-contracted within the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health as a...
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NEWS UPDATE

Hospital forced to close after R300m RAF debt

A refusal by the Road Accident Fund (RAF) to pay a private hospital for crash victims it treated led to spiralling debt and the eventual closure of the Gauteng facility, with millions still owed, the CEO has said. He said the outstanding payments of R300m forced the hospital to close, twice, and to stop treating accident victims, reports News24. It eventually closed permanently this year. Ken Ford, former CEO of the Sunshine Hospital in Benoni, Gauteng, which is now being auctioned since its final closure in May, appeared before Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) on Tuesday to testify about his...

Plunge in public healthcare services after Pepfar cuts

Nearly half of hundreds of public health facilities surveyed by the community-led monitoring group Ritshidze have been operating at a reduced capacity since the Pepfar cuts earlier this year, with increased waiting times, staff shortages and failing filing systems, reports Daily Maverick. The Ritshidze team has sounded the alarm after finding that among 326 of the facilities, 48% showed a “system-wide slide”. Ritshidze, which falls under the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), has been monitoring the state of primary healthcare since 2018 through surveys and interviews with patients and providers, and its latest report, based on data collected between April and June...

SA firms lose out on lenacapavir production

South African companies were excluded from Gilead Science’s voluntary licensing for the anti-HIV drug lenacapavir because those that were evaluated in 2024 did not satisfy the technical specifications for the production of sterile injectables at that time, reports AP. According to Wendy Cupido, country manager for Gilead, the company was, however, still prepared to look at further voluntary licensing if a South African manufacturer could develop the required capabilities and meet quality standards in the future. This followed a warning by Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi that although the revolutionary twice-annual jab was a “ground-breaking” tool to fight the disease, the initial...

Neurologist shortage not unique to South Africa – Motsoaledi

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has defended his department against accusations of healthcare system collapse, saying the global shortage of specialists was partly to blame for the current crisis, reports The Citizen. His response comes after it emerged that Limpopo has only one neurologist, with patients allegedly having to wait until February 2026 for appointments. EFF MP Mathibe Mohlala said the fact that people with deteriorating conditions had to wait more than eight months to see a specialist was a gross injustice, exposing the collapse of public healthcare for the poor, while other patients with money could seek immediate treatment in private...

Gauteng Health spends R20m on new clinic wall as old facility crumbles

Spending R20m on building only a wall at a yet-to-be-constructed clinic is “a reckless waste of taxpayers’ money by the Gauteng Department of Health, particularly as the existing clinic is in a serious state of disrepair, jeopardising staff and patients’ health and safety”, the DA has said. In a statement, the party, which said the department has blown millions on nothing but a wall at the new Boitumelo Clinic, south of Johannesburg, is demanding an urgent independent audit of the project to assess spending and delivered value. The information about the new clinic was disclosed by Gauteng Health MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko...

Medicines smuggling probe after ARVs found at bus crash site

An investigation has been launched after the discovery of dozens of packs of ARVs and prescription drugs amid the wreckage of a fatal bus accident in Limpopo last week, in which 43 passengers lost their lives and 48 were injured, reports The Citizen. The vehicle, which was apparently overloaded and was travelling from Gqeberha to Zimbabwe and Malawi, veered off the road and plunged down a steep embankment on the Sunday evening. Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo expressed concern about “buckets of ARV drugs and other medication” being found, “with no documentation for medical cargo”. “A full-scale investigation has been launched, and...

Gqeberha's Livingstone Hospital still without CEO – seven years later

The Eastern Cape Department of Health says it is advertising the CEO post for Livingstone Tertiary Hospital for the third time – seven years after Thulane Madonsela and his management were forced out of the job, reports Daily Maverick. On 31 October 2018, the last permanent CEO at the Gqeberha hospital, Madonsela, was marched out of the hospital by unions who were unhappy about several issues. He and his entire management team were suspended pending an “investigation”, the results of which were never made public. They were neither presented at the Bargaining Chamber nor at a subsequent review application in the...

Glenda Gray in UCT funding storm

Former president of the South African Medical Research Council and current University of Cape Town (UCT) council member Professor Glenda Gray has lodged a complaint against two fellow council members for allegedly violating UCT’s code of conduct. News24 reports that the complaint is apparently linked to the withdrawal of funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and USAID earlier this year, and tied to two resolutions adopted by UCT’s council. The complaint was lodged against Advocates Kessler Perumalsamy and Mark Oppenheimer in March. Perumalsamy told News24 the allegations were “completely untrue and without merit”, while Oppenheimer described them as “false and...

FDA flags burns, scarring from skin procedure

The US Food & Drug Administration has warned about the potential for serious injuries with radiofrequency (RF) microneedling for skin procedures, after a series of reports of burns, scarring, disfigurement and nerve damage. The agency said it was working with manufacturers of the class II medical devices with the hopes of identifying mitigation strategies, adding that while its evaluation was ongoing, patients, caregivers, and healthcare providers should be aware of the chances of complications during dermatologic or aesthetic skin procedures. RF microneedling uses an array of small electrodes – microneedles – to treat wrinkles or to achieve certain skin effects, sometimes...

Infant immunisations drop in Western Cape

The Western Cape Department of Health & Wellness has sounded an urgent alarm over a steep decline in infant vaccination coverage across the province, with data showing a concerning 27.6% drop from the critical 95% target, putting many infants at immediate risk of diseases like measles, polio, TB and whooping cough. The department says the province is already experiencing the consequences of this drop in vaccination rates, reports BizCommunity. On 6 October, it had to provide mass vaccination in Khayelitsha on the Cape Flats after a measles outbreak, in which 60 cases were confirmed. Given the rise in misinformation, like the...

UFS awarded WHO grant for global traditional medicine platform

A major grant has been awarded to the African Medicines Innovations and Technology Development Platform (AMITD) at the University of the Free State (UFS) under the leadership of Professor Motlalepula Matsabisa and will now spearhead valuable global research into traditional medicine. AMITD, within the Department of Pharmacology at the UFS Faculty of Health Sciences, led a consortium that included the All-India Institute of Ayurveda to bid for the funding after the WHO issued a global request for proposals. The WHO, through its Global Traditional Medicines Centre, awarded the grant to the value of $133 671 to AMITD to develop an intellectual property framework for the protection, regulation...

SAHPRA and HPCSA sign collaborative agreement

The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) and the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) recently signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for five years that will enable collaboration and co-operation between the two bodies. The agreement cements information-sharing regarding all healthcare and health products from practitioners; cross-referral of emerging and urgent risks and complaints relating to professional transgressions; the conducting of joint inspections and investigations; the creation of awareness campaigns, social media interactions, media statements and comments; aligning, where necessary, the rules, standards and regulations to clarify and avoid inconsistencies in legislation, and participation in joint initiatives,...

DA reports hospital copper theft to SIU

The DA has asked the Special Investigative Unit (SIU) to investigate the theft of a 100m long copper pipe from the Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe Hospital in Kimberley – this after the Northern Cape Health Department failed to open a criminal charge of theft. In a statement published in Polity, Isak Fritz, DA Northern Cape provincial spokesperson on health, wrote that the theft took place more than five months ago, with parts of the province’s only tertiary facility still without hot water as a result. Based on a parliamentary reply, he wrote, it is suspected that the thieves pretended to be contractors and cut the pipe into...

Namibia confirms first case of mpox

Namibia’s Ministry of Health and Social Services has confirmed the first case of mpox – in Swakopmund, reports The Namibian. “Surveillance, contact tracing, and response teams have been activated to contain the spread,” according to the announcement on Sunday by the Ministry’s spokesperson Walters Kamaya. Kamaya said the patient is receiving treatment in isolation at Swakopmund District Hospital and is in a stable condition. The case had been linked to cross-border travel within the Southern African Development Community region, he added. “In line with World Health Organisation protocols, one confirmed case of mpox constitutes an outbreak,” Kamaya said.   The Namibian article – Namibia declares...

Africa to get BioNTech mRNA vaccine site

Two EU bodies will fund BioNTech with up to $110m to help build its mRNA vaccine factory in Kigali, Rwanda, which is designed to locally supply vaccines to Africa, reports Endpoints News. The Germany-headquartered vaccine maker will get a grant of up to $40m from the European Commission, starting with an initial $15m payment, and the rest of the funding subject to milestones. The company also has the option of a $69m loan from the European Investment Bank. BioNTech has not released details on how it will use that funding. The Kigali facility has been in the works since 2022, and will manufacture clinical-stage mRNA...

WHO, EU to advance digital health in sub-Saharan Africa

A new agreement has been inked by the World Health Organisation and the European Union (EU) to support the digital transformation of health systems and wider adoption of WHO’s Global Digital Health Certification Network (GDHCN) in sub-Saharan Africa. The partnership plans to improve pandemic preparedness and accelerate progress towards better health and well-being for all, they said. The agreement was announced at the World Health Summit 2025 by Dr Yukiko Nakatani, WHO assistant director-general for health systems, access and data; Dr Mohamed Yakub Janabi, WHO regional director for Africa; and Martin Seychell, deputy director-general of the European Commission Directorate-General for International...

MEDICO-LEGAL

Patient loses second legal bid in faulty drip case

A judge has dismissed the second legal bid by a former Potchefstroom Hospital patient to claim damages from the North West Province Health MEC after a drip mechanism broke off in his arm, and, he claims, has left him impaired. IOL reports that Magiel du Plessis turned to the North West High Court (Mafikeng), where he claimed damages alleging that because his right arm was damaged in the process, he can no longer work as a boilermaker and use the arm to operate heavy tools. The High Court earlier dismissed his claim and concluded that it is not the medical practitioners’ fault...

More delays for scarred woman's suit against Durban hospital, surgeon

Netcare Hospital Group and a surgeon have both denied liability in the case of a Durban woman who claims severe burns on her back resulted from negligence during spinal surgery 10 years ago. The former beauty pageant queen, who has instituted a civil claim for R1.6m, said she awoke from the operation with horrific burns that have left her in constant pain for a decade, reports News24. But Nivera Maharaj (55), who is suing Netcare and the operating doctor, now has to wait even longer after her case was postponed indefinitely last week in the latest round of litigation. Maharaj was a...

SOME RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS IN THE PAST WEEK

NUTRITION

Sugary flavours in infant food harming health – Stellenbosch study

Researchers from Stellenbosch University have called for infant food flavourings to be evaluated and for labelling regulations to be strengthened and enforced after their study found that a number...

Importance of African dietary guidelines underlined in SA study

Twelve African nations now have official dietary guidelines, creating opportunities to strengthen public health, preserve traditional diets, and address climate challenges. So say the authors of a recently published study,...

ONCOLOGY

Increase in several cancers among adults of all ages – global study

While colorectal cancer is rising particularly fast among young adults, researchers have found that several other cancers have showed an increase in numerous countries over the past two decades...

NEPHROLOGY

Scientists create ‘universal’ kidney to match any blood type

After a decade of work, researchers are closer than ever to a key breakthrough in kidney organ transplants: being able to transfer kidneys from donors with different blood types...

VACCINES

Shingles jab slashes CVD events, dementia – US study

Having shingles increased the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) like vascular dementia, heart attack, stroke and death by roughly a quarter – but people who received the...

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