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Wednesday, 17 December, 2025

FOCUS: NHI

Why NHI won't fall prey to state capture – Motsoaledi

Venilla Yoganathan - 0
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi is confident that structural changes to health funding and procurement under the NHI will safeguard the scheme from state capture and corruption. The Minister said the NHI scheme will not fall prey to the type of grand-scale theft and looting like that exposed at Tembisa Hospital. “Nobody accepts what happened in Tembisa Hospital. We are very angry. That is why between me and (the) SIU we have agreed that we must regain at least a minimum...
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NEWS UPDATE

CDC ends decades-long hepatitis jab policy

Experts have expressed concern about the Centres for Disease Control's (CDC) decision to end the recommendation that all newborns should receive the hepatitis shot, now leaving it up to parents, in consultation with healthcare providers, to decide whether babies born to hepatitis B-negative mothers should get the vaccine, including the birth dose. Reuters reports that this follows a recommendation from Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr’s vaccine advisory panel that entails a major change in healthcare policy. Earlier this month, the panel recommended a birth dose should only be given to newborns whose mothers test positive for hepatitis B or...

Western Cape surgery backlog climbs to 100 000

Almost 100 000 patients are awaiting surgery in the Western Cape – more than 5 000 at Groote Schuur Hospital alone – thanks to the disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the daily pressures of high trauma intake in the region, reports Cape Argus. The family of one affected patient, Elizabeth Williams (77), has been pleading with Groote Schuur management for seven months for their mother, who has Vocal Cord Palsy, to be allowed elective surgery. She suffers regularly with vomiting and choking with her tracheostomy, which now has a foul smell, and shows signs of pus and blood, and...

Gauteng 'crisis' warning as specialists resign from hospitals

A rash of resignations from public hospitals in Gauteng should have set off alarm bells within the Department of Health – but it denies services will be disrupted by this, while doctors say they are “simply not valued” and that their complaints have fallen on deaf ears. The flight of specialist doctors will not only affect patients and staff but also have dire implications for those training to be specialists, reports Daily Maverick. Recently, three cardiologists have resigned from Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, and apart from losing all of its cardiologists by the end of December, the hospital has also seen...

Medscheme launches urgent bid to pause Bonitas move

Medscheme, which administers medical aid schemes including for Bonitas Medical Fund, has brought an urgent High Court application to suspend or terminate certain requests for proposals (RFP) issued by Bonitas in July, until a forensic investigation has been concluded. Business Day reports that the RFPs relate to the bid by Bonitas to issue a new contract for the administration of its scheme, currently being undertaken by Medscheme. The Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) instigated a forensic investigation into Bonitas after allegations about its executives and senior trustees related to improper procurement processes. The investigation is expected to take at least six...

Patient racially abused Mediclinic ER nurse, rules judge

A patient who was apparently unhappy that he had to wait before being assisted for an injury at a Mediclinic in Cape Town last year, has been found guilty by the Equality Court of hate speech and harassment against a nurse. The Cape Argus reports that the emergency room nurse, Fybeja Nayona, was on the receiving end of Mark Preyer’s racial and gender abuse, when he had also used the “k” word, she alleged. Preyer had visited the clinic in February last year, after a motor bike had fallen on his leg and injured him. However, when he got there, he...

Discovery digs in its heels over cancer treatment for canoe champ

An ongoing struggle with Discovery Health – relating to its stance on covering some of his cancer treatment costs – is frustrating Oscar Chalupsky (62), the former world canoe champion who has been fighting bone marrow cancer since 2019. Chalupsky, who this week underwent numerous medical tests in a hospital in China (at this own cost) to determine whether highly specialised CAR-T treatment could extend his life, has been locked in battle with Discovery over whether the medical aid should fully cover one of his other treatments as a prescribed minimum benefit treatment. News24 reports that the Council for Medical Schemes...

Nurse attacked by patient’s relative fails in R10m claim

A nurse who waited eight years before launching a R10m damages claim against the Minister of Health – for having been assaulted by a patient’s relative while he was on duty at a clinic – has failed to have his claim heard by the court because he filed it too late, reports TimesLIVE. The Mpumalanga High Court dismissed the case, based on an exception raised by the Minister and the Mpumalanga Health MEC, that Madala John Mafuyeka’s claim had prescribed. This means he filed his application more than three years after becoming aware that a debt was due to him. The...

Premium hike slammed by GEMS members

The Government Employees Medical Scheme (GEMS) has defended the 9.8% contribution premium hike for its 2m members for next year, telling outraged unions that this is necessary for the scheme’s long-term financial sustainability. Other schemes, meanwhile, are already struggling to maintain their solvency ratios, as evidenced by Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) Industry Report 2024, released recently. News24 reports that the Public Servants Association (PSA), which represents about 245 000 current and former government workers, as well as the Federation of Unions of SA (Fedusa), among others, have slammed the GEMS increase, describing it as “reckless” and likely to devastate the...

Now US shifts focus to RSV shots despite safety, efficacy data

RSV vaccines, which have drastically lowered infant hospitalisations, have come under review by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) despite no previously published reports of safety issues. The Guardian reports that regulatory officials are re-examining the safety of the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) shots, stirring fears that this could lead to the removal or limitation of jabs that have dramatically lowered hospital admissions among babies. FDA officials told three manufacturers of RSV preventative treatments for babies last week that their products are being reviewed because of safety concerns raised by anti-vaccine activists, Reuters reported. The FDA routinely evaluates safety information about approved drugs,...

FDA approves second antibiotic for gonorrhoea

The US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has given the green light to zoliflodacin (Nuzolvence) as an oral treatment for gonorrhoea, a day after approving oral gepotidacin (Bluejepa) for the same indication, reports Medpage Today. Zoliflodacin is the first of a new class of antibiotics, called spiropyrimidinetriones, that have activity against Neisseria gonorrhoeae. The FDA approved zoliflodacin for the treatment of uncomplicated urogenital gonorrhoea caused by N. gonorrhoeae in adults and paediatric patients aged 12 and older who weigh at least 34kg. “The availability of additional treatment options is particularly important, given the global rise in gonococcal drug resistance,” said Peter Kim, MD, director...

SAHPRA and WHO pilot new approval process

The WHO and SAHPRA have agreed to pilot a new review mechanism for locally manufactured vaccines to speed up the process, and has called for expressions of interest. The current WHO Pre-Qualification (WHO PQ) mechanism requires that a health product, in this case, a vaccine, first be authorised by the reference country's National Regulatory Authority (NRA) before submission by the manufacturer, and in efforts to support and boost local manufacturing, SAHPRA approved a policy in this regard, which was published in June 2025. The lengthy and drawn-out process of getting NRA approval before WHO PQ was cited by several stakeholders as...

Millions lost to dangerous fake drugs, warns Motsoaledi

Sales of counterfeit and illicit medicines are thriving in South Africa, with SAHPRA having recorded 507 suspected cases in 2024/25, of which 110 were confirmed, and with R3m being spent on destroying these dangerous products, reports The Star. The alarming statistics were revealed by Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi, after EFF MP Thandiswa Marawu had asked him about the mushrooming sale of these drugs. In a written parliamentary reply, Motsoaledi said that most commonly targeted by counterfeiters were pain management drugs, weight loss products, skin lightening or bleaching treatments, condoms and medications for impotence or sexual enhancement. He said they posed significant risks...

First organ donation at pioneering Tygerberg Life Pod

The Life Pod at Tygerberg Hospital recently housed its first organ donor – the first posthumous multi-organ donation in more than two years facilitated through the hospital – but more work is needed to raise awareness of organ donation, say the organisers. The “Avengers of Medicine” recently assembled in the Save7 “Life Pod” to bring life-saving and life-changing organs to more than eight transplant patients waiting for a second chance. The event marked the culmination of more than 18 months of work by a group of medical students committed to saving lives through organ donation. The “Avengers of Medicine” is how Jonty...

CMS blocks medical broker with fake certificates

The Council for Medical Schemes has warned the public not to do business with a woman who was running a brokerage with fraudulent accreditation certificates, reports TimesLIVE. Jane Miranda Makae was accredited as a healthcare broker and was providing broker services at Tholwana Healthcare Services – both have now been blocked from operating by the CMS. Makae’s individual accreditation expired in July 2024, and she applied for renewal of her accreditation last November, but this was refused by the CMS office of the registrar. The regulator discovered she owned three different accreditation certificates issued in her name, all of which were fraudulent,...

Ekurhuleni medical supplies factory fire contained

Police are investigating the cause of a fire that broke out in the early hours of Tuesday morning at a multi-million rand factory in Germiston that produces essential medicines, reports The Citizen. Fortunately, firefighters were able to contain the blaze, saving most of the vital medical equipment and vials. Ekurhuleni Emergency Services spokesperson Tikkie MacDonald said the call was logged just before 2pm, and that firefighting teams were immediately dispatched from multiple stations. . They had found a section of the factory on fire, with boxes and bags of polypropylene well alight. “Luckily, they were able to successfully extinguish the blaze and prevent the...

US doctor jailed for 30 years for filming women, children

A former Michigan doctor is headed to prison for 31 counts of sexual misconduct, receiving a sentence last week of 35-60 years behind bars. Oumair Aejaz (41) had pleaded no contest in October – a no contest plea being one where the defendant does not admit guilt but admits the state has enough evidence to secure a conviction, reports WILX10. In August 2024, Aejaz’s wife told police that he had been secretly recording her, their underage children, and female relatives inside their home. She had also found recordings of people undressing at the Goldfish Swim School. Police said the recordings included mothers...

MEDICO-LEGAL

Lawsuits blaming GLP-1s for blindness gather momentum

A United States federal judicial panel has said it would centralise a growing number of lawsuits against Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly – alleging patients lost some or all of their eyesight while taking the companies’ blockbuster weight-loss drugs. The Judicial Panel on Multi-district Litigation, which manages complex federal litigation, agreed with the plaintiffs that the cases should be centralised in their own multi-district litigation (MDL) in Philadelphia federal court rather than added to the existing mass litigation in the same court over gastrointestinal side effects of the drugs, reports Reuters. The panel said that despite the injuries being different, there...

Second doctor sentenced in Matthew Perry overdose death case

A Californian doctor who sold ketamine to Friends star Matthew Perry has been sentenced to eight months of home detention and three years of supervised release – the second person to be sentenced in the actor’s death. The BBC reports that Dr Mark Chavez is among five people – including another doctor, sentenced earlier this month – who have pleaded guilty to drug-related charges stemming from the sitcom star’s 2023 death. The physician admitted to obtaining ketamine from his clinic and a wholesale distributor through a fraudulent prescription and selling it to Dr Salvador Plasencia, who supplied the dissociative anaesthetic to...

SOME RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS IN THE PAST WEEK

HAEMATOLOGY

Bleeding alert for cancer patients on extended blood-thinners

Researchers who have identified four predictors of clinically relevant bleeding in patients receiving extended anticoagulation with apixaban (Eliquis) for cancer-associated venous thromboembolism (VTE) said their findings might help clinicians...

NEUROLOGY

Positive results for chronic migraine treatment – Italian-Norwegian study

A collaborative team of Norwegian and Italian researchers has announced promising results for migraine prevention, saying a combination of onabotulinumtoxinA and atogepant was effective and well tolerated in patients...

ONCOLOGY

Global study flags disparities in child cancer deaths

Concerned experts are urging faster action to help reduce childhood cancer rates and boost survival, while calling for investment in registries as well as vital infrastructure. Annually, more than 200...

PHARMACEUTICAL

New obesity drug delivers higher weight loss reduced knee pain

Eli Lilly’s next generation obesity drug has delivered the highest weight loss yet in a late stage trial while reducing knee arthritis pain, clearing the first of several upcoming...

OBSTETRICS

Epigenetic study shows women age five years in pregnancy

Pregnancy was found to accelerate epigenetic ageing by up to 5.3 years in nulliparous women, suggests a prospective study by American scientists. Additionally, an older first trimester epigenetic age...

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