Your Health

 

The Private healthcare industry needs to change

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The “startling costs” of South African private healthcare is at the heart of the Competition Commission’s Health Market Inquiry (HMI) draft report released in July. While cost is a key theme, the report also describes a sector lacking the vital force of authentic, robust competition.

Currently, the South African private healthcare sector is an opaque system dominated by a small handful of players. Members pay for medical scheme cover, and accept that they will also have to pay costs out of their own pockets.

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The common refrain of the medical aid will pay is one that is inherently false. It is not the medical aid that pays, but the member. “The fact that so many people cling to this erro
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Medical Aid Fraud:- Audiologist convicted of 259 counts

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Earlier this month, Wandile Theophilus Mashego, an audiologist and speech therapist practising in Pretoria, was found guilty of 259 counts of medical aid fraud and one count for contravening Section 66 of the Medical Schemes Act.

The case was brought against him by Bonitas Medical Fund after it was discovered he had been submitting fraudulent claims on behalf of members over a period of two years – from 2014 to 2015.

A soon to be identified ‘runner’ provided details of Bonitas Medical Fund members to Mashego, who then billed Bonitas fraudulently, for ‘services’ to these members.

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Mashego pleaded guilty under Section 105A of the Criminal Procedure Act 77 of 1951 and was sentence
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A New Healthcare Plan promises to overhaul South Africa’s massively skewed system

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Since 1994 South Africa has invested substantial resources in healthcare services. As a result, it’s has made significant health gains. For example, nearly 4-million people get HIV treatment and mother-to-child transmission has nearly been eliminated.

Service delivery has also been significantly expanded to more than 4000 health facilities. And there’s been a large increase in the number of healthcare professionals.

But health care needs aren’t static. For example, non-communicable diseases like diabetes and hypertension are now responsible for more deaths than HIV and TB combined. And in some instances successes have created challenges. For example, the expansion of HIV treatment has meant that there’s now a large cohort of chronic patients requiring ongoing care. In addition, the reality of a largely youthful population requires interventions so that health gains aren’t lost.

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Revolutionise US 911 services to startup local tech

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RapidDeploy, a local tech startup, is set to modernise 911 services in the US, following a recent partnership with multinational telecommunications company AT&T.

The local tech startup that has revolutionised access to emergency services in South Africa, is set to modernise 911 for law enforcement, fire and emergency medical services in the United States. This follows a recent partnership with multinational telecommunications company AT&T.

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Steven Raucher, RapidDeploy CEO and co-founder, says “As a South African born company, we could not be more thrilled that our homegrown, non-traditional approach to emergency services is taking off in such a competitive overseas market. Most important
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Outbreak of Klebsiella pneumonia in Vosloorus hospital

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The Gauteng Department of Health has confirmed the outbreak of Klebsiella pneumonia at the Thelle Mogoerane Regional Hospital, in Vosloorus.

The head of department (HOD), Professor Mkhululi Lukhele, paid a visit to the hospital to assess the situation following the outbreak and a recent protest by employees of the facility.

During the visit, Lukhele confirmed that the hospital’s neonatal unit identified seven cases of Klebsiella pneumonia outbreak in July 2018, which sadly resulted in the deaths of two babies.

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“Contrary to what has been reported in the media, there were five babies that were being treated and out of the five, one of the baby’s results was negative,” sa
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Let’s have a look at 5 things you shouldn’t do to heal a wound

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From applying wine and beer to a scratch to using ants to bite and seal a cut – humans have tried almost anything to accelerate the healing of wounds over the centuries.

We’ve come a long way since then, but we still don’t always get it right when it comes to caring for our wounds.

Most people still have a scar somewhere from a childhood fall or a soccer match gone wild, but the right treatment could have accelerated healing by up to 50% and reduced the risk of scarring, says Dr. Rainer Wolber from Beiersdorf AG’s Research & Development Centre.

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Here are 5 things not to do when taking care of a wound.

1. Don’t leave your wound to air-dry
If y
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Time to develop new malaria drugs before its too late

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It has been more than a century since Ronald Ross discovered that the female Anopheles mosquitoes transmit malaria. In the interim, the world has made unbelievable strides in the fight against malaria. But both the mosquito and the malaria parasite are wily foes with the ability to develop resistance against the tools we use against them.

A recent study, Malaria Futures for Africa (MalaFA), questioned malaria leaders in 14 African countries about their views on the fight against malaria. The report revealed that many of them are highly concerned about resistance to artemisinin combination therapies (ACTs) emerging. The early stages of resistance to ACTs, the current standard treatment recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) against malaria, have emerged in Southeast Asia and been observed in several countries there.

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AI (Artificial Intelligence) doctors and engineers are coming – but they won’t be stealing high-skill jobs

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Google recently successfully put its DeepMind artificial intelligence system to work recognising eye diseases. With AI also being used to diagnose cancer, and the launch of AI-driven smartphone apps that can discuss symptoms and triage patients, it might sound like we’re not too far from the creation of a fully fledged AI doctor.

Similar progress is being made putting AI to work writing software and evaluating legal contracts. AI has even started to make its mark in the creative world, generating artworks and fashion, evaluating graphic design, and helping people to create music. So does AI pose a threat to highly skilled jobs in the same way it does to ones that involve simple, repetitive tasks?

New technology has been making workers redundant for hundreds of years. But advances in the various industrial revolutions have also always created other new jobs, and people have been able to adapt. In the end, successful technologies were those where human and machine
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Supply of medicine during strike by Sahpra will continue

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The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra) says it has developed contingency plans to ensure that its essential services are not disrupted during the ongoing protest action by the employees of the Department of Health.

Sahpra, which was established in February 2018 to replace the Medicines Control Council (MCC) as South Africa’s regulatory authority, continues with its work to ensure that health products available to the public are safe, effective and of good quality.

As the authority transitions from the MCC to Sahpra, it continues to be housed with the department employees in the Civitas building in Pretoria.

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Some common skin cancer can signal increased risk of other cancers

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Frequent skin cancers due to mutations in genes responsible for repairing DNA are linked to a threefold risk of unrelated cancers, according to a Stanford study. The finding could help identify people for more vigilant screening.

A new study from Stanford University School of Medicine shows that people who develop six or more basal cell carcinomas during a 10-year period are more likely to develop other, unrelated cancers such as, including blood, breast, colon and prostate cancers.

The increased susceptibility is likely caused by mutations in a panel of proteins responsible for repairing DNA damage, the researchers found.

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Microplastics:- We are guinea pigs in a worldwide experiment

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One of the main problems with plastics is that although we may only need them fleetingly – seconds in the case of microbeads in personal care products, or minutes as in plastic grocery bags – they stick around for hundreds of years. Unfortunately, much of this plastic ends up as environmental pollution.

We’ve all seen the gruesome images of a sea turtle killed by a plastic bag, or the array of bottle caps, toothbrush fragments, and other plastic items found in the stomach of an albatross carcass. But what about the tiny microplastics that aren’t as readily visible?

Much of the hundreds of millions of tons of plastic waste in our oceans is made up of microplastics. These are defined as plastic beads, fibers or fragments with a diameter of less than five thousand micrometers (μm), equal to one-half centimeter. Nanoplastics are thousands of times tinier, with a diameter of less than 0.1 μm, and are also likely to be widely present. By comparison, a human hair ran
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By using the IoT to solve the healthcare puzzle

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Footprint Africa Business Solutions (FABS) moves from IoT development into healthcare by creating Doc-in-a-box and brings a plethora of medical tools and technologies for those living and working in rural areas.

There is a way to catch the challenges on the African continent in a web of innovation and ingenuity. It doesn’t involve extensive expense or investment in fresh and shiny technology either. Often, the best solution is one that takes what’s already in play and uses it in a different way. This is precisely what Footprint Africa Business Solutions (FABS) has done with their Doc-in-a-Box.

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IoT solutions that change the lives of people

“We moved our
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A New class of drug could reduce cardiovascular risk

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A new class of drugs has the potential of reducing cardiovascular risk by targeting a specific microbial pathway in the gut.

Unlike antibiotics, which non-specifically kill gut bacteria and can lead to adverse side effects and resistance, the new class of compounds prevents microbes from making a harmful molecule linked to heart disease without killing the microbes, which are part of the gut flora and may be beneficial to overall health.

In the study in mice, the new drugs reversed two major risk factors for cardiovascular disease – increased platelet responsiveness and excessive clot formation – by lowering levels of TMAO (trimethylamine N-oxide), a gut bacteria byproduct that forms during digestion.

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North West News:- Clinics close and medicine runs out as state owes millions

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Mafikeng Provincial Hospital is running on skeleton staff and two clinics in the North West province have closed their doors because of a lack of security. Moreover, a failure to pay service providers has left many other health facilities without security and in short supply of drugs.

Some health workers are refusing to work in the absence of security guards after contracted security companies recently withdrew their services from hospitals and clinics across the province.

Earlier this week, nurses stormed out and refused to work in some wards with without guards present. Later, one administrative staff member reported seeing three midwives left to oversee 48 women in labour.

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The firm Cipla South Africa grows national footprint with Mirren acquisition

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Cipla Medpro South Africa (Pty) Limited (“Cipla Medpro”), wholly owned subsidiary of Cipla Limited, India (“Cipla”), and South Africa’s fourth-largest pharmaceutical company in the private sector, has announced its plans to acquire a 100% stake in Mirren (Pty) Limited (“Mirren”).

Mirren is a South African over-the-counter (OTC) pharmaceutical manufacturer and distributor, which has been in operation for 35 years. The transaction is subject to the approval by the Competition Commission of South Africa.

Paul Miller, CEO of Cipla South Africa, said that once approved, the transaction will enhance Cipla’s current OTC portfolio, by adding Mirren’s well-established brands such as Broncol cough syrup, Coryx, Tensopyn, and Ultimag. This deal will also increase Cipla’s local manufacturing footprint.

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