Posts tagged with 'medical schemes'

 

Pietermaritzburg mortuary mess:- workers return to work after arrests

Posted on Leave a comment

The Fort Napier workers had been on a go-slow since November. They have been demanding a wage increase, back pay and better working conditions.

Seventeen employees of the Fort Napier Medico Legal Mortuary in Pietermaritzburg, who were arrested on Monday, were released with a warning on Tuesday. They were arrested after the Department of Health issued an ultimatum to workers to return to work or face arrest.

Department of Health spokesperson Ncumisa Mafunda said that on Tuesday, 16 forensic pathology staff members from Gale Street Medico Legal Mortuary in Durban had also been arrested. According to National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) provincial secretary Phakama Ndunakazi, they were released the same day.

Mortuary workers demand better pay
The Fort Napier workers had been on a go-slow since November. They have been demanding a wage increase, back pay and better working conditions.

“The 17 employees were release
Continue reading…

Share with friends on Social Media (if share buttons do not show below, disable your ad blocker temporarily):

Enjoyed this post? Share it!

 
 

Less than 2000 state ambulances nationally may be on the road

Posted on Leave a comment

The national health department says it is against outsourcing emergency services. But with a grave shortage of ambulances, it may have no choice.
Just 1971 state ambulance vehicles are on the road nationally, a Bhekisisa survey reveals.

Health department guidelines say there should be at least 5 700 ambulances in operation — or one for every 10 000 people, according to standards quoted in the KwaZulu-Natal health department 2017 annual report. But with less than 2 000 actually functioning, there are only enough state emergency vehicles to cater for about a third of the population, data from provinces show.

A May audit of provincial health departments by the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) found shortages of ambulances and emergency medical services (EMS) personnel in several provinces.

In response, Bhekisisa requested the latest EMS vehicle and personnel numbers from all nine provinces. The Gauteng, North West, Western Cape, Mpumalanga, and Eastern Cape hea
Continue reading…

Share with friends on Social Media (if share buttons do not show below, disable your ad blocker temporarily):

Enjoyed this post? Share it!

 
 

Wonderful news, Genetics may be the key to new epilepsy therapies

Posted on Leave a comment

An international study has discovered 11 new genes associated with epilepsy, which greatly advances knowledge of the underlying biological causes of epilepsy and may inform the development of new treatments for the condition.

Researchers compared the DNA of more than 15,000 people with epilepsy to the DNA of 30,000 people without epilepsy. This has created a better understanding of genetic factors that contribute to the most common forms of this condition, and the results tripled the number of known genetic associations for epilepsy and implicated 11 new genes.

The majority of current anti-epileptic drugs directly target one or more of the associated genes and identified an additional 166 drugs that do the same. These drugs are promising new candidates for epilepsy therapy as they directly target the genetic basis of the disease.

“This work illustrates the power of scientists collaborating across countries and continents. Discovering these new genes for epil
Continue reading…

Share with friends on Social Media (if share buttons do not show below, disable your ad blocker temporarily):

Enjoyed this post? Share it!

 
 

Children in South Africa’s aren’t getting the mental health care they need

Posted on Leave a comment

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has received increased scientific, clinical and public attention over the past few decades. It’s the most common psychiatric disorder in children – affecting 2% to 16% of the school going population.

But in South Africa data on prevalence rates, access to care, and treatment for ADHD is limited. Despite the known efficacy of treatment, access to health care and treatment remains limited for many children in the country. This is a problem as untreated ADHD results in substantial costs and has a negative impact both on educational attainment and quality of life.

We have recently completed a study that looked at the mental health barriers South African school children face. Our research focused on the work of a not for profit organisation, set up in 2017 to provide mental health screening services for school children and with a particular focus on ADHD.

Our research found a prevalence rate of 2.5% among the more th
Continue reading…

Share with friends on Social Media (if share buttons do not show below, disable your ad blocker temporarily):

Enjoyed this post? Share it!

 
 

Be careful, your favourite birth control might put you at risk of HIV?

Posted on Leave a comment

We could be just months away from knowing whether Depo-Provera use is linked to a higher risk of HIV infection in women. For more than a decade, obstetrician Coceka Mnyani’s conversations with her patients followed a script.

Had they used contraceptives before? Did they want more children? What contraceptive did they plan on using after delivery and why?

“Depending on what a woman said, you would advise, you know, ‘that’s not such a great idea, have you thought about this’, ‘maybe this one would be a better option’,” Mnyani says.

“You’ve got this woman who has just had a baby, who’s tired, who has a crying infant — is she going to remember to take a pill every day?”

Health department data shows that most South African women visiting a public health facility for free contraception will leave with a shot of the three-month contraception depo-medroxyprogesterone acetate, which is most commonly sold under the name Depo-Provera. T
Continue reading…

Share with friends on Social Media (if share buttons do not show below, disable your ad blocker temporarily):

Enjoyed this post? Share it!

 
 

The National Health Insurance (NHI): Who’s in, who’s out and how much will it cost

Posted on Leave a comment

The NHI was the centre of the presidential health summit. Now the pressure is mounting for Treasury to figure out how to fund it.

NEWS ANALYSIS

The health system is in crisis, government officials admit. Now, they have just weeks to produce an initial plan on how to fix it ahead of introducing a National Health Insurance (NHI), Deputy President David Mabuza revealed this weekend.

With its namesake, President Cyril Ramaphosa was absent from the presidential health summit. The gathering drew more than 100 representatives from civil society, government, unions, academia and the private sector. Prior to the event, that was held in Boksburg, each delegate received a 21-page concept note outlining challenges within the health system — this included corruption and how the NHI will incorporate the private sector.

Solutions proposed during the meeting will now form the basis for wider consultation ahead of a public plan to turn the health system.
Continue reading…

Share with friends on Social Media (if share buttons do not show below, disable your ad blocker temporarily):

Enjoyed this post? Share it!

 
 

Why are the private sector remaining wary of universal healthcare

Posted on Leave a comment

Globally, one in four private healthcare groups surveyed won’t work with governments. Whether the National Health Insurance (NHI) succeeds or fails will depend on public-private partnerships. But the scheme will have to overcome more than just money woes to get the two sectors to settle old quarrels if new research is any indication.

Under the NHI, a centralised fund will procure a package of services from both the public and private sectors on behalf of South Africans. But it’s unclear how this will work and South Africa isn’t the only country trying to figure this out. Countries such as Indonesia, Egypt and Kenya are also looking to buy services from the private sector as part of the move towards universal healthcare.

But a recent survey of 20 of the world’s biggest private healthcare providers showed many remain wary of working with governments. Collectively, these companies owned 500 hospitals and 7 000 clinics across 40 low- and middle-income coun
Continue reading…

Share with friends on Social Media (if share buttons do not show below, disable your ad blocker temporarily):

Enjoyed this post? Share it!

 
 

A DNAlysis Review for you: How DNA tests can help personalise medicine

Posted on Leave a comment

DNA tests have gained in popularity over the last few years. They reveal a lot about us, but the data can be overwhelming. We tried one to find out how it all works.

You’ve probably seen it somewhere. Personalised DNA tests are a big trend in medicine. Genetic tests are still a bit lowkey in South Africa, but globally, it’s a booming business.

These DNA tests can tell us a whole bunch of things.

From which diet is best, which exercise we might respond well to and, perhaps most crucially, help us understand how we process medication. It can also help us track our heritage, but for the purposes of this article, we’ll focus on the health aspects.

Are we doomed by our genes?
Most of the outcomes are theoretical, based on correlation, not causation.

And there is some debate around whether some of this information should even be shared with consumers. The reports have loads of info on them. Some scary, some less so. Some experts fear th
Continue reading…

Share with friends on Social Media (if share buttons do not show below, disable your ad blocker temporarily):

Enjoyed this post? Share it!

 
 

Time to go back to basics in the fight against childhood pneumonia

Posted on Leave a comment

Pneumonia is a respiratory infection that affects the lungs. The viruses and bacteria that cause the disease are spread through airborne droplets from a cough or sneeze. An infection can cause the lungs to fill with pus and fluid, making breathing and oxygen intake difficult.

And while anyone can get pneumonia, children with weakened immune systems or underlying illnesses are more susceptible. That’s why, pneumonia kills more than a million children every year across the world.

There have been some critical advances in preventing and treating the disease. These include vaccines, antibiotics and providing supplemental oxygen. In 2009, South Africa became the first African country to include the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in its routine infant immunisation programme. By 2012 an estimated 81% of one-year-old babies had received three doses of the vaccine.

South Africa has also reduced its pneumonia burden through the mass roll-out of antiretroviral therapy a
Continue reading…

Share with friends on Social Media (if share buttons do not show below, disable your ad blocker temporarily):

Enjoyed this post? Share it!

 
 

Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital:- Possible link between baby formula, deaths in Joburg hospital

Posted on Leave a comment

Two types of bacteria were found in baby formula tested at the Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital, but toxicology tests haven’t been done.

A possible link between baby formula and necrotising enterocolitis (NEC) in premature babies could explain the deaths of nine babies recently at Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital in Johannesburg, an expert has suggested.

But Stasha Jordan, director at SA Breastmilk Reserve, warned that while studies suggest a correlation between the use of formula in new-born babies and NEC – a medical condition – several factors had to be considered when such outbreaks occur.

After several infant deaths in hospitals around the country this year, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases couldn’t find the cause of the outbreak.

According to the institute, the presence of two types of bacteria were found in the baby formula they tested at the hospital. The testing revealed the presence of Bacillus and Streptococcus
Continue reading…

Share with friends on Social Media (if share buttons do not show below, disable your ad blocker temporarily):

Enjoyed this post? Share it!

 
 

Malaria is still a major problem in Africa, now there are a novel approach that brings African scientists closer to a malaria vaccine

Posted on Leave a comment

Originally published by Faith Osier on The Conversation. There are over 200 million clinical cases each year and approximately half a million deaths.

There are different ways in which malaria can be controlled. Preventive measures include use of insecticides in bed nets or indoor spraying programmes. Medicines can also be used to prevent or treat malaria, but resistance often develops and drugs lose their effectiveness.

The World Health Organisation reported that progress in controlling malaria has stalled.

As an immunologist, I dream that one day we will have an effective vaccine that will help eliminate malaria. I think this is possible because for over a century, we have known that humans do become immune to malaria. In places where there is lots of malaria adults don’t succumb to the disease, but their young children do.

In experiments conducted over 50 years ago, researchers showed that blood could be taken from adults who had become immune and used
Continue reading…

Share with friends on Social Media (if share buttons do not show below, disable your ad blocker temporarily):

Enjoyed this post? Share it!

 
 

Hospital News:- Rahima Moosa Hospital: “The hospital has violated the right of access to health” – says SAHRC

Posted on Leave a comment

The South African Human Rights Commission inspected the Rahima Moosa Mother & Child Hospital on 8 November.

The investigation at the Rahima Moosa Hospital followed after a necrotising enterocolitis outbreak at the hospital took the lives of nine infants from March to July 2018.

After the visit to Rahima Moosa Hospital , Buang Jones from the South African Human Rights Commission said in a press briefing:

“From what we’ve gleaned so far, the hospital has violated the right of access to health. [..] They’ve also violated Section 28 of the Constitution which says that’s the best interest of children are of paramount importance.”

The hospital, which assists in the delivery of the approximately 13,000 babies yearly, acknowledged the death of the infants in August, but the cause of the outbreak is still unknown. The outbreak was contained in August.

According to a tweet posted by Jacaranda News, the SAHRC’s investigation also revealed that the Rahim
Continue reading…

Share with friends on Social Media (if share buttons do not show below, disable your ad blocker temporarily):

Enjoyed this post? Share it!

 
 

MEDICAL AIDS News:- Spectramed and Resolution Health merge

Posted on Leave a comment

Spectramed Medical Scheme and Resolution Health Medical Scheme (Resolution Health) have merged to form Health Squared Medical Scheme, as from 1 January 2019.

Independent auditors confirmed that 93% of members voted for the merger, and the schemes have extensively engaged with the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) and, with their involvement, the merger process is now subject to final approval by the CMS and Competition Commission.

Health Squared will be administered by Agility Health, which is currently the managed care provider and administrator for both Spectramed and Resolution Health.

The launch of Health Squared forms part of an overall strategy to protect the interests of members while strengthening the service offering in the context of future developments in the South African healthcare landscape.

Would you like to advertise on this very popular website ?? Just drop me an e-mail at Continue reading…

Share with friends on Social Media (if share buttons do not show below, disable your ad blocker temporarily):

Enjoyed this post? Share it!

 
 

The question on everybody’s mind is:- How will the State Liability Amendment Bill affect victims?

Posted on Leave a comment

According to Kirstie Haslam, partner at DSC Attorneys, the proposed State Liability Amendment Bill which the government is seeking to pass, will have consequences for medical malpractice claimants, as it aims to both limit and structure the payment of damages where a patient has been a victim at a State hospital…

Haslam believes that the move from the lump sum system to the proposed periodic system is unworkable.

“The principle difficulty with the introduction of this Bill is that it is nothing more than a stop-gap interim solution pending possible greater legislative reform,” she explains. “As matters stand, the South African Law Reform Commission is undertaking an extensive investigation into what it terms “medico-legal claims” and in that context this Bill – which has a potentially massive impact on victims of medical malpractice perpetrated in State-run institutions, which would be mostly the poor – is premature.”

Administrative
Continue reading…

Share with friends on Social Media (if share buttons do not show below, disable your ad blocker temporarily):

Enjoyed this post? Share it!

 
 

And the money just keep rolling in:- R20 million payday for Discovery CEO Adrian Gore

Posted on Leave a comment

Insurance and finance group Discovery has published its integrated annual report for 2018, revealing what its top executives got paid for the year.

Group CEO, Adrian Gore, was rewarded with a total package of R19.8 million, including a R6.6 million basic salary, a bonus of R7.8 million, long-term incentives of R4.1 million and other benefits of R1 million and R313,000.

Gore’s incentives were largely based on the handling of Discovery Bank, which is set to launch as South Africa’s next big full service bank in the coming months. He also saw that the group hit its growth targets and ran a profitable business, Discovery said.

Group financial director, Deon Viljoen earned a R10.2 million total package, while CEO of Discovery Life Hylton Kallner was the highest-paid exec with a total package of R29.2 million.

Kallner’s huge payday was due to a R17.6 million LTI payout, which was as a result of the vesting of a three-year LTI scheme.

CEO of Discovery Hea
Continue reading…

Share with friends on Social Media (if share buttons do not show below, disable your ad blocker temporarily):

Enjoyed this post? Share it!