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Thursday, 12 March, 2026

FOCUS: HEALTH GOVERNANCE

Motsoaledi suspends health boss and top officials

Venilla Yoganathan - 0
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has placed the head of the department, Sandile Buthelezi, and two other senior officials – all facing fraud and theft charges – under precautionary suspension. Nicholas Crisp has been appointed as acting DG following the suspensions related to a criminal case on the alleged irregular awarding of a R1m tender, reports TimesLIVE. Motsoaledi said Buthelezi was on suspension until the case is finalised or until his contract expires, whichever comes first. This follows Buthelezi’s appearance in the Pretoria...
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NEWS UPDATE

Eastern Cape Health boss faces HRC for department failures

The Human Rights Commission has ordered the beleaguered Eastern Cape Health Department to explain why it failed to address 27 public complaints – some dating back two years – which highlight the many stark crises and issues of the flailing department. The provincial accounting officer and seasoned healthcare administrator Dr Rolene Wagner appeared before the commission in East London this week, where she was given two weeks to respond to the HRC, reports News24. Wagner was subpoenaed as part of the commission’s ongoing investigation into “systemic failures” in healthcare service delivery across the province, and numerous complaints received by the Chapter...

Hospital must ask court to save teen’s life, says Minister

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi plans to ask the Charlotte Maxeke Hospital to approach the courts to save the life of a critically-ill boy, who needs a liver transplant, but whose Jehovah’s Witness father is refusing to allow a blood transfusion. The Sowetan reports that Motsoaledi said the 15-year-old’s liver transplant cannot be done without a blood transfusion. “I am going to ask the hospital to go to court if it wants to save his life,” he said. The Mpumalanga teen is battling kidney and liver disease but his family has made it clear to doctors that they won’t allow a blood transfusion during the...

Inquiry judge orders review of ‘useless’ sick note

The ongoing Madlanga commission of inquiry into alleged police capture has raised issues about questionable, last-minute sick notes submitted by witnesses, saying it would refer the matter to the medical council and was considering summoning doctors to explain. Chair of the inquiry Judge Mbuyiseli Madlanga it was becoming a recurring issue for subpoenaed witness to submit last-hour sick notes, and that such behaviour affected the commission’s work. He said a doctor’s sick note submitted by North West businessman Brown Mogotsi on Monday was useless, as it stated only “medical condition” rather than a specific illness, reports the Sowetan. Mogotsi has been accused...

Department denies ex-Tembisa CFO was ‘paid to leave’

Gauteng Health has denied claims that corruption-accused former CFO Lerato Madyo was paid to leave her role and given a “golden handshake” as alleged by DA health spokesperson Jack Bloom this week. The Citizen reports that Bloom claimed Madyo was “given a very lucrative settlement and is currently living under another name in Limpopo”. The department had announced Madyo’s resignation in August 2024, but Bloom disputed the claim yesterday. “My information says that she is in Limpopo. We have the new name that she goes under, and she left with a golden handshake, with no record and in good standing,” he said. The...

‘Defamation’ smears led to patient refusing ambulance services, court hears

The ongoing legal battle between KZN Transport MEC Siboniso Duma and ALS Paramedics escalated yesterday (Wednesday) into accusations of perjury and claims that a patient had refused the private ambulance service because of Duma’s public statements, reports News24. In a supplementary affidavit filed in the KZN High Court (Pietermaritzburg), ALS Paramedics director Garrith Jamieson accused Duma of publicly branding him a liar and a criminal on a social media post – this in the wake of Judge Pieter Bezuidenhout recently refusing ALS’ urgent bid for immediate relief to interdict Duma from making any more defamatory statements. The judge had found Duma’s...

Menstrual products safe, confirm Motsoaledi, WHO, SAMRC

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has added his reassurances to those of the government’s Social Protection, Community and Human Development cluster, which said this weekend that no feminine products were being recalled and that sanitary pads on South African shelves were safe to use, reports News24. The cluster, led by Motsoaledi, held a media briefing to clarify the implications of the recently published University of the Free State study that suggested locally available products contained chemicals that might disrupt hormonal processes. The study, conducted on 16 sanitary pads and seven panty liners, found small quantities of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) were present in...

Unions step up threats over GEMS increases

Union members of the Government Employees Medical Scheme (GEMS) have threatened to withdraw from the scheme – and are investigating legal action, as well as suggesting further protests – if the contributions increases are not withdrawn, reports Business Day. In response, GEMS is offering bilateral talks to defuse the rising tension. Cosatu, the Federation of Unions of South Africa (Fedusa) and the Public Servants Association (PSA) have said that despite state subsidies, the scheme’s recent premium hikes are more than double the pay increases awarded to civil servants. They have also accused the scheme of “not serving its purpose, but serving the...

SA leading the charge for made-in-Africa anti-HIV jab

South Africa’s National Aids Council (Sanac) has asked local drug companies to submit applications by 7 April to make generic versions of the anti-HIV jab that could end Aids by 2043 in the country – if 31m HIV-negative people take it for at least a year each between now and then, writes Bhekisisa’s Mia Malan, who explains just why success is so crucial for Africa. The original version of the six-monthly shot – lenacapavir, or LEN – produced by Gilead Sciences, is almost foolproof in stopping uninfected people from getting the virus, and was registered in South Africa in October. Locally-made...

Baby formula recalled in South Africa

The National Consumer Commission (NCC) has recalled baby formula produced by Nutricua Southern Africa, saying there is a possibility of toxin contamination within some batches, reports IOL. The recalls are for the 800g Nutricia Aptamil Nutribiotik 2 and the 800g Nutricia Aptajunior Nutribiotik 3, and NCC spokesperson Phetho Ntaba said the recall affects 2 989 units. “Nutricia SA has indicated that a raw material used in the production of the affected batches may carry traces of cereulide – a toxin that, at high levels of exposure, can cause symptoms such as nausea, vomiting and abdominal cramps,” Ntaba said. The expiry dates for...

Woman blames Eastern Cape hospital after open wound for 14 years

An Eastern Cape woman has spent 14 years in agony after an appendectomy left her with an open wound, which her family blames on the hospital’s alleged “negligence” and which it says has conveniently “lost” the file, reports eNCA. Twenty-two-year-old Benathi Mbuse said she had never healed from the 2011 surgery at Uitenhage Provincial Hospital, with the pain confining her to bed most days. Her family blames poor care at the facility, saying it has shattered her dreams. Her mother, Nomaxhosa Nkayitshana, said she has tried umpteen times to get help for her daughter, and then last year, they found that Mbuse’s...

Drastic action urged as child obesity set to soar to 220m by 2040

The World Obesity Federation (WOF) has said that without drastic action, half a billion children will be grossly overweight by 2040, calling on governments to urgently start creating healthier environments, reports The Guardian. The agency said that for the first time in history, more children globally are obese rather than underweight. Last year, worldwide, about 180m children were obese – 1.08m of those being South African, aged between five and 19 – but these latest figures from the WOF suggest that by 2040, about 227m of all five- to 19-year-olds will be obese and more than half a billion overweight. According to...

NHI needs a decade to mature, says Adrian Gore

Discovery CEO Adrian Gore says the National Health Insurance (NHI) in its current structure requires a decade or more for it to mature, and that in reality, “we don’t have sufficient resources to offer that kind of healthcare”, reports Business Times. He said the idea “that NHI is functional and people can walk into any private hospital is not realistic”. “We don’t have the healthcare, we don’t have the resources, we don’t have the doctors. It cannot be done,” he said during Discovery’s half-year results presentation. He said there was a general acceptance it was not workable in its current form. “There are court cases going on. At a...

Cancer drug pulled from market over safety concerns

The cancer drug tazemetostat (Tazverik) is being voluntarily withdrawn in the United States and all other markets over concerns about secondary cancers, pharmaceutical company Ipsen has announced. The company also said it is discontinuing all active trials of the EZH2 inhibitor and any expanded access programmes, reports MedPage Today. Based on data from single-arm trials, in 2020 tazemetostat received accelerated approvals from the FDA for patients with previously treated follicular lymphoma and an EZH2 mutation and for patients with metastatic or locally advanced epithelioid sarcoma who are not eligible for complete resection. Ipsen’s decision to pull the drug for both indications was...

FDA lane-change on possible autism treatment drug

Nearly six months ago, federal health officials gathered at the White House with President Donald Trump and vowed to “go bold” on autism, outlining plans for an “exciting treatment” for children with the condition – a decades-old drug, leucovorin, newly recast as a potential breakthrough, reports The Washington Post. “Hundreds of thousands of kids, in my opinion, will benefit,” Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary had said at the time. But on Tuesday, the administration appeared to have scaled back on the vision, with the FDA announcing that while it will expand approval for the medication in question, leucovorin, this...

Iran war freezes WHO’s medical supply hub in Dubai

The World Health Organisation has said the US-Israeli war with Iran has throttled its deliveries of vital medical supplies from the world’s largest humanitarian supply hub in Dubai to conflict-wracked countries, reports Health Policy Watch. With the freezing of air travel across the Middle East, and shipping restrictions through the Straits of Hormuz, operations at WHO’s logistics hub for global health emergencies have had to be put on hold, said the agency’s Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Hanan Balkhy, WHO Regional Director of the Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office  (EMRO), said the disruption is preventing access to some $18m in humanitarian...

Madagascar reports first mpox death

Madagascar has reported its first death – a three-year-old girl – from mpox since the disease was detected in the country last December, according to a report by the Malagasy Ministry of Public Health. The child had been admitted to hospital in a critical condition, with her health worsening due to complications before she died, reports Xinhua. According to the report, as of 1 March, there are now 457 confirmed cases in the country, but health services were continuing to monitor and manage cases to contain the spread of the disease. The Ministry said a vaccination campaign would launch shortly, targeting primarily healthcare...

French hackers steal medical details of 15m patients

In what may be the biggest health data breach in France, the Health Ministry says that administrative details and medical notes on more than 15m people were hacked – days after hackers infiltrated the bank accounts of 1.2m people, reports AFP. Top politicians were among the millions affected and whose details were now visible online, with some of the information including details on whether a patient was homosexual or had Aids. The Ministry said the cyber breach, carried in late 2025, involved information from about 1 500 medical practices who had used software made by the Cegedim Sante company. The data breach...

MEDICO-LEGAL

Durban mothers in IVF baby mix-up row

In a legal tussle likely to have lifelong implications on two families, a black couple from Ballito wants the courts to compel an Indian woman to allow a DNA test on her child, claiming he was born from their embryo that was given to her by mistake at a fertility clinic nine years ago, reports TimesLIVE. The Indian woman initially said the application was not in the best interests of the child, and tried to obtain a protection order against the Ballito couple, whom she accused of harassing and stalking her. The couple hired a private detective last year after a...

SOME RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS IN THE PAST WEEK

DIET

Vegetarians have lower risk of five cancers – large global study

A landmark study on the role of diet – using data from more than 1.8m people – has suggested that vegetarians have a substantially lower risk of five types...

ENDOCRINOLOGY

Under 7.32 hours' sleep ideal for glucose disposal – Chinese study

A cross-sectional study led by researchers from Nantong University in China and published in BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care found that just under 7.32 hours of sleep was...

IMMUNOLOGY

Immune system’s role in non-healing diabetic wounds – Shanghai study

A recent scientific review by Chinese scientists has highlighted how disruptions in the timing and behaviour of immune cells may hold the key to understanding the widespread medical challenge...

NEUROLOGY

Scientists optimistic as first test of gene therapy for rare autism form starts

Two years ago, a small biotech start-up got permission to test a gene therapy for a rare and disabling form of autism. The plan: deliver a gene that’s vital...

ORTHOPAEDIC

Higher risk of osteoporosis and gout with GLP drugs – US study

A large analysis has suggested that popular weight loss drugs may carry an increased risk to bone health, and conditions like osteoporosis, reports NBC News – while a second...

PAEDIATRICS

Drug slashes Davet syndrome paediatric seizures by 90% – UK study

British scientists say an experimental drug is showing remarkable promise for children with Dravet syndrome – a severe and hard-to-treat genetic form of epilepsy – after clinical trials suggested...

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