Wellness

 

‘Suspicious’ fires at Durban hospital – Arson investigation to be done

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Two fires broke out on different floors of Durban’s Addington hospital on October 4 2018.

Police are investigating a case of arson following two “suspicious” fires at Durban’s Addington hospital on Thursday.

The KZN Department of Health said in a statement on Friday that two sporadic fires broke out on different floors of the hospital.

The fires were contained before they could cause any serious damage to hospital infrastructure‚ except for smoke residue on the walls.

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According to the statement: “In what is believed to be acts of arson‚ the first fire broke out on the 7th floor around 7.30am and the second fire‚ on the 10th floor around 2.30pm
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The National Health Insurance: Running Before Crawling – The need for objective reassessment of the pilot phase

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In Part I of the series on health reform and the draft National Health Insurance Bill (NHI Bill), the Centre for Constitutional Rights (CFCR) argued that considering the anticipated costs of the NHI and lack of crucial detail, South Africa needs to urgently assess alternative models to address the healthcare crisis. In Part II, the CFCR assesses the lack of information on the results of the NHI pilot phase, which is supposed to inform the further roll-out of the NHI.

The NHI Bill aims to revolutionise healthcare provision in South Africa by replacing the current two-tiered healthcare financing with the establishment of the NHI fund, which will be the single purchaser and financier of the population’s personal health services. The NHI, according to the NHI Bill, is envisioned to be rolled out in three phases spanning over 14 years, with the first phase extending from 2012 to 2017. The second phase is accordingly from 2017 to 2022. The final phase is from 2022 to 20
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The Showdown at the UN: SA takes on the US for cheaper drugs

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When the US went to bat for Big Pharma in the fight against this killer disease, South Africa wasn’t having any of it. Here’s what happened next.

Graveyard cough, white plague, consumption. A killer by any name, TB has stalked the human race for aeons, lurking in crowded tenements or following miners deep underground, hanging in the air of our hospitals.

Always there, yet rarely spoken.

Today, it kills more people than HIV and malaria combined, the World Health Organisation (WHO) reports. In South Africa, Statistics South Africa’s latest data shows TB remains the leading cause of non-violent deaths.

Yet it took the United Nations 73 years to call a meeting on TB — and only because a very excitable South African health minister agitated enough for it.

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Bonitas:- Price hike and big changes for medical aid plans in 2019

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Medical aid scheme Bonitas is to increase prices across its various plans by a weighted average of 8.9% in 2019 – while also launching two new lower-cost plans.

The group said that the weighted average is on par with the industry corridor of 3% to 4% above CPI, and comes amid a tough economic climate, which included a hike in VAT to 15% in April 2018.

“The past 12 months have been extremely trying, with a number of uncertainties and changes anticipated,” said Bonitas principal officer, Gerhard Van Emmenis.

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“In addition, consumers have been heavily impacted by the increase in VAT and escalating prices which resulted from this.”

In July Bonitas reporte
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Staatshospitale in SA bloei weens tekort aan medici

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Daar is meer as 4 000 vakatures by Gautengse staatshospitale in kritiek belangrike poste soos dié van spesialiste, aptekers, dokters en verpleegkundiges.

Dié situasie het aan die lig gekom in die jaarverslag van die Gautengse departement van gesondheid wat onlangs in die provinsiale raad ter tafel gelê is, sê Jack Bloom, die DA se woordvoerder oor gesondheid.

Uit dié verslag blyk dit daar is net 40 316 opgeleide personeellede in diens uit die 44 558 goedgekeurde poste, wat op ’n tekort van 4 242 mense in kritiek belangrike poste dui.

Bloom sê die situasie word vererger omdat hospitale selfs met die goedgekeurde getal poste sukkel om oor die weg te kom, want daar is net al hoe meer pasiënte.

Die party doen ’n beroep op die departement om kritieke poste te vul wat dringend nodig is om die onderliggende bestuurs- en begrotingsprobleme op te los.

Hy is veral bekommerd oor die hoë omset van aptekers (54%), dokters (46%) en spesialiste (18%).

Hy
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The biggest medical aid schemes in South Africa – and how much they’re charging in 2018

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The majority of South Africa’s biggest medical aid schemes have released their prices for 2018, showing below 10% increases across all plans.

According to the latest statistics released by the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS), there are currently 82 medical aid schemes operating in South Africa with a total subscription of just under 8.9 million members as at December 2016.

Discovery remains the largest medical aid scheme in the country, with over 2.7 million members.

This is followed by the Government Employees Medical Scheme (GEMS) with 1.8 million members, and the Bonitas Medical Fund, with just under 680,000 members.

Due to the nature of medical aids, and how each scheme is structured to cater for different hospital networks and cover different medical needs, it’s incredibly difficult to compare like for like, especially on price.

However, with all medical aids now releasing their contribution structures for 2018, the tables below outline the pr
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SA gewaarsku oor dodelike longpes

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Die dodelike longpes wat in Madagaskar uitgebreek het, eis al hoe meer slagoffers met die dodetal wat nou al gestyg het tot 48 – en die Suid-Afrikaanse owerhede is gewaarsku om hier gereed te wees vir enige uitbreking.

Die Wêreldgesondheidsorganisasie (WGO) sê 449 gevalle van longpes is reeds in Madagaskar bevestig.

Die WGO waarsku daar heers kommer op internasionale vlak daaroor nadat ’n Suid-Afrikaanse basketbalspeler wat ’n klubkampioenskapsreeks bygewoon het, ook aangesteek is. Die speler is in Madagaskar suksesvol behandel en het volgens die WGO na Suid-Afrika teruggekeer. Hy en sy spanmaats word gemonitor.

Daar is geen reisverbod na of van Madagaskar nie.

Die nasionale departement van gesondheid het verskeie maatreëls ingestel, soos om lugrederye te waarsku om op die uitkyk te wees vir siek mense op vlugte.

Amptenare by Suid-Afrikaanse hawens is gevra om hul prosesse op te skerp om mense wat in die land aankom, behoorlik te ondersoek.

A
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Baba dood na swak diens in staatshospitaal – Nuwe ma ontneem van haar geluk

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‘n Bronkhorstspruit ma, Priscilla Fuhri (39), is ontneem van haar geluk toe sy moes toekyk hoe haar pasgebore baba dogtertjie voor haar oë versmoor en tot sterwe kom as gevolg van nalatigheid by ’n mediese regerings instansie.

Priscilla het op Maandag, 11 September in kraam gegaan. Sy was teen die tyd net ses maande en ’n week swanger. Sy moes as gevolg van komlikasies, op vier en ’n half maande gaan vir steke in haar baarmoeder. Die rede hiervoor was dat haar baarmoeder te klein is en die steke verhoed dat die baarmoeder skeur wat ‘n vroeë kraam belemmer.

Om ongeveer 16h00 die Maandag het Priscilla abnormale voorgeboorte tekens gewys soos bloeding en vererge kraampyne. “Dit het groot kommer gewek” sê sy. Sy is deur ’n barmhartige Samaritaan na die Bronkhorstspruit Hospitaal geneem. Daar aangekom is sy op ‘n drup geplaas. Sy is toe per ambulans na ’n Staatshospitaal vervoer.

Daar aangekom is Priscilla direk ongevalle toe. “’n Paar dok
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ATM pharmacy launches in Bloemfontein (Free State)

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Twin City Mall in Bloemfontein is the newest site for the innovative ATM pharmacy that gives patients with chronic illnesses repeat medication in under five minutes.

The Pharmacy Dispensing Unit (PDU) was unveiled on 25 September, during Pharmacy Month, at the central community shopping centre, which is on main transport routes and is open for extended hours including weekends and public holidays. The first such dispensing unit was launched in Alexandra in Gauteng in March this year.

The Pharmacy Dispensing Unit works like an ATM for medication, with Skype-like audio-visual interaction between patient and a remotely located tele-pharmacy contact centre. Patients are able to talk to pharmacists in a call centre 400km away in Centurion, Gauteng – showcasing the benefits of tele-pharmacy to patients in rural and outlying areas. This allows patients to access accurate medicine information and counselling from qualified pharmacy staff.

The dispensing data is hosted
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Why is alcohol withdrawal so hard on some people, the genes may hold the answer

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Some heavy drinkers suffer intense withdrawal symptoms when they try to stop drinking – some, less so. A new Yale-led international study of individuals with alcohol dependence has identified gene variants that may help explain why “detox” from alcohol is particularly difficult for some people.

The researchers reported their findings on 25 September in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, the official journal of the Research Society on Alcoholism.

“Alcohol takes more lives in the United States and South Africa every year than opioids, but there are few effective treatments to help people who have an alcohol use disorder,” said Andrew H. Smith, lead author of the study and a research affiliate in the laboratory of senior author Joel Gelernter, Foundations Fund Professor of Psychiatry and Professor of Genetics and of Neuroscience. “For people who experience intense withdrawal symptoms, that’s one more barrier they have to face while
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Smart hospitals in Africa set to achieve more high performance facilities

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The next generation of healthcare buildings will be very different from the hospitals, clinics and general practitioner (GP) surgeries we are familiar with today.

A revolution in building design is already underway, which has largely been prompted by an acceleration of technological innovation, changing population demographics, shifts in expectations of how healthcare should be provided and environmental considerations.

In the pursuit of a prosperous future of inclusive and sustainable growth, where all African people have a high standard of living, quality of life, sound health and well-being, learning from global trends and adapting these to suit African conditions may be the key to building successful networks of healthcare infrastructure and medical facilities across the continent.

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Mediese selfbetalings styg met skokkende 13,4%

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Die brood het gekrimp, maar ons betaal nou meer daarvoor.

Só het ’n ekonoom die verhoging van meer as 13% in selfbetalings deur mediesefondslede die afgelope jaar beskryf.

Verbruikers wat elke jaar swaar trek aan die premies vir hul mediese fondse het boonop nog verlede jaar R29,7 miljard uit hul eie sak opgedok.

Dit is 13,4%, of ’n hele R2,5 miljard, meer as die vorige jaar, toon die jongste jaarverslag van die Raad op Mediese Skemas (RMS).

Boonop word dié syfer onderskat omdat dit net bereken word op die rekeninge wat lede indien waarvoor hulle self betaal het.

Die selfbetalings is die bedrae waarvoor geëis is wat fondse nie betaal nie.

“Dit kan ’n onderskatting wees van die werklike bedrag wat self betaal word omdat lede nie altyd hul eise aan hul fondse stuur wanneer hul voordele opgedroog het nie,” het die RMS in die verslag gesê.

Johann van Tonder, ’n ekonoom en navorser vir Momentum, het gesê mediese inflasie meet nie die styging in bybetali
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A Gauteng hospital to be rebuilt for R1.3 billion

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Civil society organisations say that the cash-strapped province should rather save money and renovate the abandoned Kempton Park hospital.

Not only will the Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development spend R127-milion to demolish the derelict Kempton Park Hospital, formerly known as Khayalami, they are planning to rebuild it for a whopping R1.3-billion.

This decision has been criticised by civil society organisations, who say the cash-strapped province should rather renovate the abandoned hospital and not waste money. The DA has promised to “closely monitor” the process.

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Costs ‘closely matched’

Defending their decision on why they could not renovate the Ekur
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Government clampdown on private ambulances looms

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Durban – Stringent regulations would soon be in place to control the private ambulance services industry, and recommendations have already been accepted by the National Health Council.
Some of the recommendations include:

– all private emergency rescue vehicles to be painted in one colour;

– one contact number for all private ambulance services;

– the nearest ambulance responds to the scene; and

– no provincial demarcations for the different private ambulance services.

This is likely to receive resistance from the operators, Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi said this week.

In an exclusive interview with the Daily News, Motsoaledi said the department was looking at getting rid of untrained operators who had been contributing to the number of patient injury complications as a result of reckless handling of accident victims.

He said some ambulance companies employed unethical practices when arriving at accident scenes.

“We h
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Looking at some South Africa hospital horrors

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South Africa´s recent spate of hospital horror stories and the sharp rise in cases of medical negligence are disturbing with medical negligence claims against provincial the country´s Health Departments increasing by around 25 per cent per year between 2011 and 2016.

This is according to Kirstie Haslam, partner at DSC Attorneys who says that the Gauteng Department of Health, (South Africa´s wealthiest province) receives a particularly staggering number of negligence claims each year. Since January 2015, it has been forced to pay out more than R1.017 billion ($US74 million) to settle 185 medical negligence claims.

“Deteriorating conditions in state hospitals, as well as incompetence and gross negligence on the part of staff members, are at the root of these claims – the vast majority of which were ruled in favour of the plaintiffs,” Haslam explains.

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