Health

 

Can this be true ?? Mahlangu, Hlongwa elected to top Gauteng ANC body

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The pair continues to survive politically despite being implicated in deadly mismanagement and graft during their tenures as Gauteng health MECs.

Former Gauteng health MEC Qedani Mahlangu, who presided over the Life Esidimeni tragedy, has been elected into the Gauteng ANC’s provincial executive committee (PEC). She joins the PEC alongside controversial Chief Whip and former Gauteng health MEC Brian Hlongwa.

Mahlangu takes up the position following a two-day elective conference this weekend, radio station 702 reports. The ANC’s PEC is the party’s top body in a province and leads the party provincially.

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Vrystaatse gesondheidsdepartement stort in duie na top spesialiste bedank

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Gesondheidsorg in die Vrystaat steier steeds onder die voortdurende eksodus van sy topmedici. Pas het nog twee van die provinsie se voorste spesialiste, prof. Schalk Wentzel (55) by urologie en dr. Maryke Spruit (55) by kritieke sorg, bedank.

Dr. Freek Bester, president van die Suid-Afrikaanse Mediese Vereniging se sentrale tak, sê om die ervaring van die topspesialiste wat die afgelope jaar en ’n half geloop het te probeer ­terugwen, gaan moeilik wees.

“Dit kan tot tien jaar neem om nuwelinge aan te stel en hulle weer op dieselfde gehaltevlak te bring nadat die institusionele geheue verlore gegaan het.

“Die bedankings veroorsaak dat pasiënte wat toenemend nie meer mediese fondse kan bekostig nie aan die lot van onbekwame dokters met swak opleiding en min ervaring blootgestel gaan word.”

Die akademiese platforms by die Universitas- en die Pelonomi-hospitaal, waar mediese studente aan die Universiteit van die Vrystaat opleiding ontvang, se toekoms wor
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Diensjaar: Verpleegster wen hofsaak na regstryd met Gautengse gesondheidsowerheid

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“Dit voel of ’n berg van my skouers af is.”

So het ’n verligte en glimlaggende Dané Hertz (22) Dinsdagmiddag gesê ná haar regstryd met die Gautengse gesondheidsowerheid omdat sy nie uitplasing vir haar verpligte gemeenskapsdiensjaar as verpleegster kon kry nie.

Hertz moet luidens ’n bevel van die hooggeregshof in Pretoria binne 30 dae deur dié owerheid uitgeplaas word na die O.R. Tambo-kliniek, waar sy van die begin af wou werk nadat sy as ’n verpleegkundige gekwalifiseer het. Die kliniek is sowat 8 km van haar huis af.

Die vakbond Solidariteit sê hy het namens Hertz ’n aansoek by dié hof ingedien om haar in ’n gemeenskapsdienspos aangestel te kry omdat die gesondheidsdepartement en minister van gesondheid sedert Januarie “versuim het om haar te plaas”.

Solidariteit het die gesondheidsowerheid op 15 Junie dringend versoek om Hertz, wat einde verlede jaar afgestudeer het, binne sewe dae na ’n kliniek uit te plaas.
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Cipla collaborates with American Cancer Society to increase access to cancer treatment in Africa

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Cipla Ltd, the global pharmaceutical company and owner of Cipla Medpro, South Africa’s third largest pharmaceutical manufacturer, announced a ground-breaking market access agreement with the American Cancer Society (ACS), the Clinton Health Access Imitative (CHAI) and the pharmaceutical company Pfizer, to expand access to 16 essential cancer treatment medications, including chemotherapies, into Ethiopia, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania.

Medpro, says that this collaboration will bring life-saving cancer treatment to these sub-Saharan African countries. “The foundation of Cipla is built on its commitment to increase accessibility of affordable and quality medicines to all citizens, so this collaboration is exactly in line with what the company stands for.”

The collaboration is part of a broader effort led by ACS and supported by CHAI to improve the market environment for cancer care in Africa.

Commenting on this partnership, Gary M Reedy, CEO of
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New Survey: Medical aid members have more choice

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In the battle for a slice of the private healthcare market, there has been significant growth in the number of medical schemes performing well across all sections of the medical aid spectrum. Whilst this means that members get more choice, it also makes the landscape increasingly complex.

The GTC 2018 Medical Aid Survey (MAS) analyses and rates medical aid schemes according to a standardised comparison and ranks the choices available to members.

When analysed purely in terms of premiums – the survey’s micro ranking – Fedhealth emerged as the medical aid which held the most top positions across all the classifications. Discovery was ranked in first place for the survey’s macro rankings, which analyses a medical aid’s overall ‘health’ and longevity in terms of factors such as its solvency level, membership growth, net healthcare result and member satisfaction. When combining both the GTC micro and macro rankings, Discovery claimed the highest number o
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A new Prostate treatment byproduct could accelerate cancer cell growth

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New research out of the United States points to a genetic anomaly in certain men with prostate cancer, which may impact their response to common drugs used to treat the disease.

Researchers found that abiraterone, a common prostate cancer drug, yields high levels of a testosterone-like byproduct in men with advanced disease who have a specific genetic variant.

The study’s lead researcher, Dr Nima Sharifi, who is based at Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner Research Institute, previously discovered that men with aggressive prostate cancer who have a specific variant in the HSD3B1 gene have poorer outcomes than patients without the variant. HSD3B1 encodes an enzyme that allows cancer cells to use adrenal androgens for fuel. This enzyme is overactive in patients with the variant HSD3B1(1245C).

Sharifi and his team in the Department of Cancer Biology, including first author, Dr Mohammad Alyamani, found that men with the genetic anomaly metabolise abiraterone differently
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Experts say bird flu not a threat to humans

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The SA Poultry Association has warned all types of chicken are at risk of contracting bird flu, whether free-range, hardbody or conventionally bred live chickens.

Association CEO Kevin Lovell said the sale of live chickens had been banned to curb the spread of the virus. But the ban had nothing to do with preventing illness in humans.

“Though all chickens are susceptible to the disease, the bird flu is an animal health problem and not a human health one. The specific version of the flu discovered in South Africa is not harmful to human health, but poses a great threat to the poultry industry as the ones infected must be culled if they have not died from the disease already,” he said.

Lovell said it was perfectly fine for people to continue buying chicken because regulations had been put in place to oversee the distribution of live chickens, ensuring no infected stock would be on the market.

“The association is working closely with the Department of Agricult
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Resident allegedly turned away from clinic because she’s ‘white’

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The metro has denied claims that Yolanda Ferencak’s children were turned away from Birchleigh North Clinic because they are white.

“The acting manager interviewed all the personnel at Birchleigh North Clinic. They indicated that none of them saw or sent away any patient or referred them to Birchleigh Clinic,” said Themba Gadebe, the metro’s spokesperson.

Ferencak from Terenure told Express that her 25-year-old daughter had taken her 11-month-old boy for immunisation injections at the clinic on July 4 when they were allegedly denied service.

“When my daughter got to the clinic she said a woman told her they did not assist white people and that it was a blacks-only clinic,” said Ferencak.

“Because they needed to go to a clinic, they then went to Birchleigh Clinic where they were assisted and a file for the baby was opened.”

“Racial preference or remarks are not tolerated and serious actions will be taken, should it occur,” said Gadebe.
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“Fire thousands of nurses who cheated” – Medical Law Expert

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A medical law expert has called for the thousands of qualified nurses who cheated in mid-year bridging exams to be struck off the roll.

“It would be tantamount to gross negligence to allow these nurses to practise,” said pharmacist, ethicist and medical law practitioner Shafrudeen Amod.

On May 10, staff nurses with a two-year qualification and employed at a clinic or hospital, wrote first- or second-year bridging course exams. Passing the exams qualifies them as better-trained “registered nurses” who earn more and have more responsibilities.

The High Court in Pretoria, which has invalidated the exams, heard that many nurses saw the question paper before they wrote the exam, and some had the answers memo, which they could have taken with them into the exams.

The implications are far-reaching.

Ethicist and qualified doctor Aimes Dhai, director of the Steve Biko Centre for Bioethics, said the suggestion in the court judgment that thousands of candidates che
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Poor health services are holding back UHC – Universal Health Coverage

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Inaccurate diagnosis, medication errors, inappropriate or unnecessary treatment, inadequate or unsafe clinical facilities or practices, or providers who lack training prevail in countries of all income levels.

This poor quality health services are holding back progress on improving health, according to a new joint report by the OECD, World Health Organisation (WHO) and the World Bank.

The situation is worst in low and middle-income countries where 10% of hospitalised patients can expect to acquire an infection during their stay, as compared to 7% in high income countries. This is despite hospital acquired infections being easily avoided through better hygiene, improved infection control practices and appropriate use of antimicrobials.. At the same time, one in 10 patients is harmed during medical treatment in high income countries.

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Anger over medicines supply scheme

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It is crucial for the Rev Isaac Harley to take his medication daily – it’s a matter of life and death really.

As a diabetic with a hypertensive comorbidity, he depends on his tablets and insulin to maintain his insulin levels and to manage his high blood pressure.

But it’s been one problem after the next, he told The Sunday Independent, since his medical aid recommended he use its pharmacy’s direct service to deliver his chronic medication to his address instead of claiming from a local pharmacy in his neighbourhood, Elsies River in Cape Town.

“On more than one occasion I’ve had to call to find out what had happened to my medicine.

“During one stint I had no medicines for two weeks because of delivery delays and I didn’t have funds so I had to borrow medication from my mother, who is also diabetic, and money from friends to get the other medication privately,” the 48-year-old said.

In a battle spanning several years, the Independent Community
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Africa gets generic version of most effective HIV drug

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NAIROBI – The generic version of the most advanced drug against HIV has been introduced in Kenya, a first in Africa where more than 25m have the disease, the NGO Unitaid said.

The drug, Dolutegravir (DTG) is the anti-retroviral drug of choice for those living with HIV in developed countries, but its high price has put it out of reach for most struggling with the disease in Africa.

“The generic DTG has two advantages: on the one hand, it is very good from a pharmaceutical point of view. On the other hand, it is much cheaper,” said Robert Matiru of Unitaid, which works to reduce the costs of medicines treating Aids, tuberculosis or malaria.

He described the drug as “the most effective HIV treatment currently on the market.”

A box of 30 pills of DTG, which lasts a month, costs between $25 and $50. The generic version only costs $4.

Kenya has already started rolling out the new drug, which will initially be provided for free to 27,000 people living with HIV
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Making vaccines ubiquitous is the key to cracking the cold chain challenge

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Over the years vaccines have prevented countless cases of disease and saved millions of lives. Infectious diseases like polio, measles, diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), rubella (German measles), smallpox, mumps, tetanus and rotavirus used to be common around the world. Today vaccines can prevent them.

Despite this, one in five children in the world aren’t fully protected by even the most basic vaccines. In addition, almost 20 million are at risk of contracting preventable diseases because they are under-vaccinated. As a result about 1.5 million children die every year from diseases that can be prevented by vaccination coverage.

One of the main reasons is that there are many rural areas in the world that don’t have reliable power supplies. Vaccines need to be kept at particular temperatures, usually refrigerated, to remain effective. Cold chain conditions aren’t possible without power. A cold chain is a temperature-controlled supply chain that runs fr
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Shortage of National cancer drug may last until October

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A deadly national cancer drug shortage is approaching its third month and patients may have to go without until October – if they can make it.

In February, Nic Basson was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme, a fast-growing malignant brain tumour, which is located in his brain’s language centre and affects his ability to communicate.

He was prescribed the steroid betanoid to help control inflammation associated with the tumor. But in April, his local pharmacy told his wife, Debra, that it could no longer fill his prescription, sending Debra on a frantic country-wide search for the drug – to no avail.

She explains: “Within 24 hours without betanoid my husband had lost his ability to speak.”

She continues, softly: “He also has memory loss, so even when he can find words, he forgets what he was going to say. He is essentially trapped in his own mind.”

Betanoid is not just used to treat brain tumours, the medicine is also prescribed to patients b
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Hospital cash-back plans crimped by new law

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The demarcation regulations clearly distinguish between medical insurance products and medical aid schemes. For the consumer, this means that while limited gap cover and hospital cash-back plans will still be allowed, primary healthcare insurance policies will no longer be available. All existing policies will need to align with the regulations from 1 January 2018.

Affected markets

These regulations will primarily affect those between 20 and 35 years of age. The annual Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) report shows that children up to the age of 20 usually stay on their parents’ medical aid. Then you see a significant drop in the number of dependents between the ages of 20 to 35, and then the line goes up again. This is a clear indication that the young and healthy are exercising their freedom of choice to not have medical aid cover. This is the group that, until now, has often relied on hospital cash-back plans for catastrophe cover.
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