The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has now shifted its focus to the R90 Billion taxi industry, which last year paid only about R5 million in taxes. The R5 million tax from last year paid by the industry, cannot even be the income tax of one province’s minibus taxis, and as a result there was a huge outcry in the media and on social media.
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SARS Looking at R90 Billion Taxi Industry to Further Increase its Increased Tax Revenues…
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Third Duel of Barbers Showcases Barber’s Skills & Style, Lifts Industry Moral, But Also Gets Accused of Corruption & Match Fixing!
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Nooitgedacht Wine Farm in Stellenbosch hosted the prestigious “Duel Of The Barbers” competition for which, not even a pandemic could stop contestants from taking part in the third “Duel Of The Barbers” showcase. With a total prize value of R230,000, this competition was one well worth competing in thanks to sponsors like WAHL, Fame, Superior Edge, Muk, Xsharp Hair and Beauty, Scissors On Main Paarl, etc. Unfortunately, the event is also leaving a bitter after-taste for some as one of the contestants, Graig Kok, accused a judge of being corrupt and the competition of match fixing in a social media post.
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South Africa following Zimbabwe into ruin? – The Zimbabwe economy is in chaos and disease is breaking out all over the place. Like Mugabe, the SA politicians are sucking our country dry and it is heading towards being just another black failed state
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In this video by ‘Loving Life’ we see that the parallel paths of South Africa and Zimbabwe are very similar. The only winners in this scenario are the politicians. The video looks at how Mugabe took over a very economically sound country in 1980 and brought it to its knees. The similarities of corruption, expropriation..
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Wes-Kaapse Departement van Gesondheid en Openbare werke beoog om uiteindelik nuwe staatslykhuis te bou na jare se uitstel
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Bouwerk het begin om die grootste staatslykhuis in die Wes-Kaap – wat 3 800 lykskouings per jaar doen – te vervang. Dit volg ná jare se beplanning en uitstel.
Die Wes-Kaapse departemente van gesondheid en openbare werke het pas aangekondig daar is begin met die projek van R281 miljoen. Dit sal 23 maande neem om die nuwe Observatory Forensiese Patologie-instituut te bou.
Die ou staatslykshuis in Soutrivier wat al sedert die 1950’s in gebruik is, sal nie meer bestaan nie.
Die nuwe gebou grens aan Hoofweg in Observatory en is langs die Kaapstadse Wetenskapsentrum geleë.
Die ou fasade van die oorspronklike gebou, die Pepsi Cola-fabriek, word om geskiedkundige redes behou en die res word nuut gebou.
Die gebou sal uit drie verdiepings bestaan, met 26 lykskouingtafels en vier areas vir disseksie sowel as areas vir opleiding.
Forensiese patoloë wat deels verbind is aan die Universiteit van Kaapstad en deels aan die departement van gesondheid doen lyk
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The maddening state of Gauteng’s psychiatric facilities
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A massive shortages of hospital beds for psychiatric patients in Gauteng is compromising patient care.
Gauteng is short of about 2700 psychiatric beds which means that psychiatric patients have to be admitted to general wards where there is no security, thus posing a threat both to themselves and others.
This was revealed recently by Gauteng Health MEC Gwen Ramokgopa in a 22-page statement handed to the Gauteng Legislature in response to questions about the state of psychiatric care for hospitalised patients.
By the time a person with a psychiatric illness is hospitalised, their symptoms are usually severe and patients may be suicidal or psychotic.
The World Health Organisation (using prevalence US figures) estimates that up to three percent of a population will have severe psychiatric conditions and need hospitalisation. This excludes figures for people with substance abuse-related disorders and post-traumatic stress – so it is likely to be an under-esti
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Nearly 2 million will lose private healthcare if tax reform happens
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The government’s plan to ditch medical aid tax credits will have a disastrous effect on already cash-strapped South Africans and force nearly 2 million people onto the over-stretched state health system.
If the tax credit is removed, 22% of medical aid users will not be able to afford cover, Stellenbosch economics consultancy Econex warned in a report published on Friday – 1.9 million of the 8 million medical aid members, including children, will have to drop out of the private healthcare system.
In a national health insurance policy document released in July, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said he wanted to remove the tax credit to users, which amounts to R20-billion a year.
Medical aid schemes’ members get a tax reduction of R3,636 a year – or R303 a month. Motsoaledi said then that “the tax credit … we believe, is unfair”.
Economist Paula Armstrong, author of the Econex analysis, said the rebate was intended to “alleviate some pressure on the state [
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Edenvale hospitaal erg gevandaliseer deur ontevrede pasiënte
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Sekere dele van die Sizwe hospitaal in Edenvale is erg beskadig deur ‘n brand wat deur ontevrede pasiënte aangerig is.
Die aanleiding daartoe was dat ‘n verpleegster dwelms en drank gekonfiskeer het wat pasiënte ingesmokkel het. Dit het hulle woedend gemaak.
Hulle het daarop deur die hospitaal beweeg en enigiets wat breekbaar was, gebreek. Die gebou is erg gevandaliseer en die kombuis en ruskamers is skynbaar totaal vernietig.
Die hospitaal spesialiseer in die behandeling van vigs en tuberkulose.
Foto – Die Sizwe Tropiese Siektes Hospitaal, in Edenvale, Johannesburg.
Die Vryburger, 22-08-2017
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Free Medical-Aid, Hospital and Funeral Plan and Insurance Quotes at www.MedSure.co.za
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Robot-aided surgery now available in Eastern Cape Province
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The first robot-assisted surgeries to treat prostate cancer in the Eastern Cape were performed by Netcare Greenacres urologists Dr Hannes Brummer and Dr Johan Coetzee this week following the installation of the Da Vinci Si robotic surgical system at the hospital.
Similar robotic systems have been installed at Netcare hospitals in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban.
Coetzee and Brummer have been training in South Africa and Europe to perform robot-assisted surgery.
Netcare hospital division managing director Jacques du Plessis said that after robotic surgery systems had been introduced in other provinces there had been an increased number of referrals from other provinces.
“We have now brought the technology and capacity for robotic-assisted procedures to the Eastern Cape.
“We identified a need for the intricate and highly complex interventions the Da Vinci Si system enables trained surgeons to achieve,” he said.
Netcare Greenacres Hospital general man
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Attack on doctors at public hospitals in South Africa sparks security concerns
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The South African Medical Association (Sama), and its Eastern Cape branch, has condemned the lack of proper security at public hospitals in the province after a doctor was assaulted by a patient.
Dr Archie Solombela sustained a fracture to his right arm and a general worker was also hurt during the attack by a psyciatric patient at the Cecilia Makiwane Hospital in East London. According to a report in the Daily Dispatch, suspected mentally ill patients are being admitted to general wards for observation, and because resources are so thinly stretched at government hospitals in the province this takes much longer than the standard 72 hours.
This is an unacceptable situation which requires urgent attention,” Sama said in a statement. “Of concern now is why no precautionary measures were put in place, considering the patient has a known violent history. This indicates either a lack of proper planning and coordination, or a lack of will to ensure the safety of hea
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Doctors Sound Alarm That SA Mental Healthcare Is Collapsing
Ground Breaking operation: Youngest child in Africa gets mechanical heart
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A five-year-old KwaZulu-Natal boy made history when he became the youngest person in Africa to receive a mechanical heart implantation. In what is considered a ground breaking operation doctors from the Maboneng Heart Institute‚ at the Netcare Sunninghill Hospital‚ inserted a heart ventricular assist device (HVAD) into Mnotho Mndebele’s “severely damaged” heart which helps it..
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How will private healthcare evolve under Universal Health Coverage (UHC)?
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With National Health Insurance, the Competition Commission investigation and sky-rocketing costs, it’s no wonder that the private healthcare sector (and the public sector for that matter) is a tad wary about what the future holds.
However, in which ever way, shape or form it manifests itself, universal health coverage (UHC) is inevitable. It forms part of the United Nations’ sustainable development goals. “To promote physical and mental health and well-being and to extend life expectancy for all, we must achieve universal health coverage and access to quality healthcare. No one must be left behind. This places UHC as the target that underpins and is key to achievement of other Goal 3 targets.”
Set of goals
According to Dr Rufaro Chatora, World Health Organisation (WHO) country representative says UHC provides a set of goals rather than tell us how to organise a health system. “This is logical as each country faces different challenges
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National laboratory workers strike after negotiations stall, provinces fail to pay
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The nationwide industrial action is expected to last at least until Friday and could affect patients living with conditions such as cancer and HIV.
Workers from the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) will embark on a national strike on Wednesday after last-minute wage negotiations stalled.
NHLS managers met officials from the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) and the Public Servants Association of South Africa (PSA), representing laboratory workers, on Monday in an attempt to thwart nationwide industrial action. Although the NHLS and unions agreed on a 7.3% wage increase, they could not agree on workers’ benefits such as a housing allowance, medical aid and uniform allowance.
Both Nehawu and the PSA told Bhekisisa that they will strike from Wednesday after negotiations deadlocked. “They are offering us 7.3%, but with no added benefits like housing and medical aid. So we are still in dispute. The strike is [starting] tomor
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Syndicates and devious health professionals may target National Health Insurance
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Criminal networks are targeting your medical aid rands but could you be part of the problem too?
Criminal syndicates and unscrupulous doctors may be defrauding the private health sector of millions as experts warn that medical schemes may reach a breaking point.
“The health care sector is being targeted by criminal syndicates and even devious practitioners. It is a direct threat to the financial viability of medical schemes in the country, including any National Health Insurance initiative we attempt,” says medical advisor on healthcare forensics at medical aid administrator and risk management service, Medscheme Gregory Pratt. Pratt was speaking at the Board of Healthcare Funders Southern African Conference this week in Cape Town.
“The affordability of medical schemes in the country will soon reach a tipping point.”
In 2013 alone, Discovery Health recovered R300 million in fraudulent claims alone – a number that in 2014 CEO Jonathan Broomberg told
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According to patients SA’s top hospitals are in the Western Cape
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The Western Cape boasts the top hospitals in the country, followed by Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.
See names of hospitals that have been included in the top 20 over the last three years.
This is according to the latest results of Discovery Health Patient Survey Score (PaSS) survey, which is based on patient experience scores.
Out of the top 20 hospitals for 2016, eight are located in the Western Cape with four in Gauteng and three in KwaZulu-Natal. The Free State and Mpumalanga have two each and the North West has one hospital in the top 20. Overall, 136 hospitals were included in the analysis of patient experience scores.
Dr Roshini Moodley Naidoo, head of Quality of Care at Discovery Health, says in general they find that hospitals are increasingly meeting higher patient expectations and needs since the survey was launched three years ago.
“Since publication of the survey scores, we are observing positive changes in how care is experienced by patients.
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