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Thursday, 8 May, 2025

FOCUS: PUBLIC HEALTH

Patients suffer as hospitals battle bed shortages, power and water cuts

Venilla Yoganathan - 0
Dire conditions at several state hospitals came under the spotlight this week with reports of heavily pregnant women being made to sleep on the floor at one, and food shortages and no hot water at another, among the complaints, writes MedicalBrief. Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital At the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital in Gauteng, there will be no running hot water for another week or longer while patients are served bread, cucumber and breakfast cereal instead of their usual more...
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FOCUS: NHI

Judge orders Ramaphosa to hand over records on NHI Bill

Venilla Yoganathan - 0
In a setback for government, the Board of Healthcare Funders (BHF) and the SA Private Practitioners’ Forum (SAPPF) have won the first round in their battle against the National Health Insurance (NHI) Act. The Gauteng High Court on Tuesday ordered President Cyril Ramaphosa to hand over his record of decision to sign the the NHI Bill into law. The court ruled that the President’s full record of all the proceedings must be provided within 10 calendar days – and that his...
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NEWS UPDATE

Netcare denies refusing to treat police officer over City's debt

Netcare Hospital Division has denied claims that Netcare Milpark Hospital turned away an injured Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) officer allegedly because of a R35m debt owed by the City of Johannesburg. The group has reaffirmed its commitment to providing critical care to all individuals, including members of the JMPD, and refuted claims that the officer, who was shot on duty, was denied emergency care. It told The Star that on the night of 30 April, a JMPD officer received immediate, lifesaving treatment at Netcare Milpark Hospital. Last week, TimesLIVE reported that the officer, who was seriously injured when he was...

Donors commit emergency funding as 100 researchers lose jobs

The dire consequences of the US withdrawal of funding to South African health programmes continue, with Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi saying that more than 100 HIV researchers have lost their jobs, which could have a massive impact on hard-earned gains. Two major entities that reported to the Health Ministry – the SA Medical Research Council (SAMRC) and National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) –  both received funding from Pepfar, reports News24. The SAMRC was awarded a $45.6m grant by USAID under the Brilliant (Bringing Innovation to Clinical and Laboratory Research to end HIV in Africa through New Vaccine Technology) Consortium, which develops and...

Digital Vibes won R150m tender despite bid errors, court hears

Digital Vibes won a R150m tender after resubmitting its bidding documents that had been incomplete when it initially made the submission, according to testimony this week from a Health Department deputy director in the supply chain office. Sifiso Dlamini was the third witness to take the stand in the graft case involving Popo Maja, the department’s former communications director, who faces two counts of corruption and is accused of using his influence to channel a R150m tender to Digital Vibes. Maja sat on the bid specification and evaluation committees when Digital Vibes was awarded the tender. He was allegedly paid R15...

Durban clinic denies sex worker ARVs   

A Durban sex worker was refused ARVs by a clinic at Addington Hospital and told to “go and work” so that she could buy them. The HIV+ woman – who for seven years has been making a 113km round trip every three months to collect her antiretroviral medication from a clinic at her home in kwaMaphumulo – said a nurse told her that the Health Department was short of ARVs and was “saving them for people who really need them”. Nomaswazi Zulu* (23) told Phumzile Mkhungo from Health-e News that for years, she has travelled home to the iLembe district to...

WHO backs global use of weight-loss drugs

Marking a shift in its approach to treating the global health problem, the World Health Organisation will officially back using weight-loss drugs to treat adult obesity – which affects more than 1bn people worldwide – while calling for strategies to improve access to the treatment in low- and middle-income countries. More than 70% of obese people live in low and middle-income countries, the World Bank estimates. Reuters reports that the blockbuster treatments, like Wegovy (Novo Nordisk) and Zepbound (Eli Lilly), launched in the United States and other high-income countries like Germany and Britain, are hugely expensive, and studies suggest people may...

UK players lobby for soccer bodies to pay brain injury costs

British campaigners say that existing support for former football players diagnosed with brain conditions – like dementia – is “not fit for purpose”, with MPs now considering proposals compelling the industry to contribute to the care costs of ex-players diagnosed with these conditions. The campaigners are currently drafting amendments to the Football Governance Bill, which would treat conditions caused by heading balls as an “industrial injuries issue”, and require football bodies to provide the necessary financial support, reports Sky News. Current support, including the Brain Health Fund which was established with an initial £1m by the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA), supported by...

Covid-19 originated in US, claims China

China has restated its case that Covid-19 may have originated in the United States, in a white paper on its pandemic response released last week after President Donald Trump blamed a lab leak in China. The White House launched a Covid-19 website on 18 April in which it said the coronavirus came from a lab leak in China – while criticising former President Joe Biden, former US health official Anthony Fauci, and the WHO. Reuters reports that in the white paper, released by the official Xinhua news agency, China accused the US of politicising the matter of the origins of Covid-19. It cited...

Woman brain-dead after cryotherapy session goes wrong

A French woman who was injured during a fatal cryotherapy session at a gym – that had earlier, in the same week, claimed the life of another woman – is now brain-dead, a prosecutor’s office in Paris has announced. An autopsy on the first victim showed she suffocated from a lack of oxygen, which might confirm the theory of a nitrogen leak into the cryotherapy chamber. The second woman, in her early 30s, was admitted to hospital in a critical condition after the accident had claimed the life of an employee in her late 20s. France24 reports that cryotherapy uses vaporised liquid nitrogen or...

Sinkhole closes clinic indefinitely

Khutsong West Clinic, west of Johannesburg, closed indefinitely last week amid concerns over a massive sinkhole nearby. “The facility will be closed indefinitely. The decision follows ongoing geotechnical challenges caused by an active sinkhole activity in the area which poses serious safety risks for both healthcare users and staff,” said health authorities. Patients have been redirected to various other facilities for services, while staff from the clinic have also been reassigned. TimesLIVE reports that no information is available on any possible action being taken to resolve the sinkhole issue.   TimesLIVE article – Sinkhole leads to 'indefinite' closure of Khutsong West Clinic (Restricted access)

US diabetes deaths at lowest levels in years – CDC

Diabetes deaths in America have fallen to some of the lowest rates in years, according to preliminary figures from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, reversing a surge in mortality that was seen during the Covid-19 pandemic. CBS News reports that there were 26.4 deaths per 100 000 people from diabetes, according to early death certificate data for the third quarter of 2024 published this month by the CDC’s National Centre for Health Statistics. Death rates from diabetes peaked in 2021 at 31.1 deaths per 100 000 people for that year. It was the eighth leading cause of death in 2021, with the CDC saying...

MEDICO-LEGAL

Murder probe after man’s death post surgery ‘without consent’

North West police have launched a murder investigation into the death of a Mozambican mineworker during a high-risk procedure at a private Rustenburg hospital, after allegations that the operation to remove a brain tumour was allegedly carried out without consent from the patient or a legal surrogate. The case dates back to 26 November 2023, when Isaac Ruco, a 58-year-old operator at Phenyo Africa Mining Solutions, was admitted to the mine’s clinic with severe headaches. He was later transferred to Life Peglerae Hospital. According to the man’s son, Angelo, clinic staff had initially diagnosed his father with malaria, but said doctors...

Patient’s Groote Schuur ordeal prompts departmental probe

Western Cape Health has launched an inquiry into Groote Schuur Hospital (GSH) after accusations of negligence and emotional abuse by a patient transferred there from New Somerset Hospital for a procedure, who endured a “traumatic experience”. Taryn Hearne (35), who is being treated for pneumonia, was transferred to GSH on 15 April for a liver abscess drainage procedure. Instead of returning the same day as scheduled, she remained at the hospital for more than 24 hours – without pain medication, food, or water, she said. Hearne claimed she was awake during the procedure, and despite voicing concerns about a non-functional drip...

Court grants widow right to dead husband’s sperm

A widow has won a legal case confirming she is entitled to use the frozen sperm of her dead husband to have another child, a notable judgment in that there have been instances – internationally – where the posthumous use of reproductive material has been prohibited. The man had been diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma when the couple married in 2015, and before starting chemotherapy, he was advised to freeze his sperm to use in case he wanted children later. Unable to conceive naturally, the couple consulted a reproduction medicine specialist at a fertility clinic with facilities in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. The...

Judge allows expert testimony in suit against US baby formula firm

A Chicago federal judge last week said she would allow expert testimony that a premature baby cow’s milk-based formula – made by Mead Johnson, a subsidiary of Abbott Laboratories and Reckitt Benckiser – can cause a fatal intestinal illness, as the companies face hundreds of lawsuits over the claims. In a separate issue, US District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer sided with Abbott in a lawsuit that was the first one slated to go to trial in federal court out of more than 700 similar cases that have been centralised in her court in multi-district litigation. The judge said the family of RaiLee Mar, an...

SOME RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS IN THE PAST WEEK

CARDIOLOGY

Daily plastic exposure linked to heart disease deaths – US study

A recent analysis of population surveys shows that daily exposure to certain chemicals used to make common plastic household items could be linked to more than 356 000 global...

DIET

Eating chicken may raise cancer risks – Italian study

Regularly eating chicken could double the risk of dying from gastrointestinal cancers, suggest scientists who followed the diets of nearly 5 000 people over 20 years and uncovered some...

HEPATOLOGY

Semaglutide effective for fatty liver disease – phase 3 trial

Semaglutide is not only hugely effective for weight loss and diabetes but it has now been found effective for people who have developed liver disease, according to an international...

OBSTETRICS

Deadly effects of marijuana on the foetus – US meta-analysis  

Using marijuana during pregnancy has been linked to poor foetal development, low infant birth weight, dangerously early deliveries and even death, according to a recent large meta-analysis of research. “The...

ONCOLOGY

More exercise advised for cancer patients – Chinese meta-analysis

Doctors should prescribe exercise to more patients who are being treated for cancer, suggest researchers who recently looked at the links between physical activity and treatments – examining 80 systematic reviews on...

NEUROLOGY

Omega 3 supplements may improve migraines – Spanish review

A recently published meta-analysis reports that fatty acid supplementation, particularly omega-3, may significantly reduce severity, duration and frequency of migraine in patients – although the researchers suggested further randomised...

INFECTIOUS DISEASES

Broader antibiotic use could reduce cholera cases – Utah modelling study

Recent disease modelling research from the University of Utah Health suggests that for some cholera outbreaks, prescribing antibiotics more aggressively could slow or stop the spread of the 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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