Johann Rupert is now the country’s richest man, having replaced Nicky Oppenheimer on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The list updates daily according to changes in the net worth of billionaires. While Oppenheimer was the word’s 216th richest person, and Rupert the 240th, the new tally puts Rupert at 241 and Oppenheimer at 245. Rupert’s net..
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Johann Rupert is now SA’s richest person with a net worth of R105 billion
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Two SA doctors are making revolutionary advances in malaria research
New study at Stellenbosch University will look at synthetic blood products for the resuscitation of trauma victims
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A large, multi-institutional clinical trial conducted by emergency medicine experts from Stellenbosch University (SU), in partnership with United States Department of Defence, will evaluate the use of synthetic blood products for the resuscitation of trauma victims before arrival at hospital.
The Division of Emergency Medicine at SU’s Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences will be the coordinating centre for the study, which includes 21 hospitals and 27 ambulance bases across South Africa. These include public and private academic institutions and healthcare facilities. For this study, SU is also partnering with the Universities of Cape Town (UCT), KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Witwatersrand (Wits) and Pretoria (UP), collectively representing the body of academic emergency medicine in South Africa.
The study will evaluate the use of the haemoglobin-based oxygen carrier Hemopure (HbO2 Therapeutics LLC) together with Bioplasma FDP (National Biologics Institute), a freez
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Suid-Afrikaners gewaarsku oor verhoogde malaria-risiko, veral in noordelike dele van die land
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Die Nasionale Instituut vir Oordraagbare Siektes (Nios) het Maandag gewaarsku dat Suid-Afrikaners bedag moet wees op ’n malaria-risiko, veral in die noordelike dele van die land wat nou die somerreënseisoen binnegaan.
“Ongelukkig het ons nog nie die laaste van malaria in Suid-Afrika beleef nie wat volgens alle aanduidings ’n terugkeer maak,” sê dr. Peter Vincent van Netcare se reis-klinieke. Volgens Vincent is daar onlangs malariagevalle aangemeld in plekke waar vroeër geglo is malaria uitgewis is, soos die Waterberg-distrik in die noord-oostelike deel van Limpopo.
Hy benadruk dat die reënseisoen in die noordelike dele van die land aanleiding gee tot die toename in gevalle van malaria. “Die risiko is die hoogste tussen September en Mei wat al voorheen as die malaria-seisoen bestempel is.
“Maak seker dat jy weet waar die geaffekteerde gebiede is en watter tipe voorsorgmaatreëls nodig is. Malaria word aangetref in die noordelike dele van Limpopo
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Ageing health infrastructure in South-Africa must receive urgent attention
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Deputy President David Mabuza has announced that government will prioritise the upgrading and maintenance of health infrastructure in an effort to deal with the challenge of ageing and dilapidated infrastructure in public health facilities.
Mabuza made the remark while highlighting the outcomes of the two-day Presidential Health Summit held in Boksburg.
During the summit, Mabuza said, it was agreed that in the context of fiscal constraints, provinces will be expected to prioritise their financial resource allocations in a manner that ensures that the delivery of health care is not compromised.
“More importantly, this summit pointed out that we need to develop a sustainable financing model for our health system. We will commence with this task immediately.
“National Treasury will be seized with this task to ensure that this model is finalised within a short space of time.
“As we lay a solid foundation for the implementation of the NHI, government wi
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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%).
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.
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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Mental health to be ‘outsourced’ in Eastern Cape
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The Eastern Cape department of health has published its R120-million tender to outsource chronic mental healthcare in the province – and has put emphasis on the reintegration of mental health patients in their communities.
Apart from chronic care‚ service providers have also been asked to tender for community-based initiatives to achieve this.
Seven-hundred adult and 180 paediatric mental health patients are now being cared for in Life Esidimeni centres in Kirkwood and Bethelsdorp.
The tender documents show that the department is also seeking to distribute beds for chronic mental health patients across the province if possible.
Long-term patients are currently housed at the 700-bed Life Esidimeni Kirkwood facility and the 180 children at Life Esidimeni’s Algoa Frail Care Centre in Bethelsdorp.
Provincial health spokesperson Lwandile Sicwetsha declined to elaborate on any of the information in the tender documents‚ saying this would compromise the
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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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How your medical bills may change under the National Health Insurance
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Many private hospitals will be opening their doors to more patients but does that mean you’ll be stuck at the back of the queue?
The United Kingdom’s universal healthcare system, known as the National Health Service (NHS), had a problem: By the early 2000s, a growing number of elderly patients were waiting up to three years for sight-saving cataract services in the early 2000s.
But the government-funded healthcare scheme didn’t have enough beds. It did, however, have plenty of parking.
“All we needed was a parking lot and a connection to three-phase electricity,” remembers South Africa’s Netcare CEO Richard Friedland.
Netcare entered the UK market fifteen years ago. It operates more than 50 private hospitals in the country, but 43% of its patients come from the NHS through the service’s electronic “choose and book” appointment system: Patients elect where to go for care, and the NHS pays private providers like Netcare a nationally-set rate
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Kundiges in gesondheidsbedryf krap kop oor toename in hospitalisasie
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Kundiges in die gesondheidsbedryf het op die jaarlikse konferensie van die Hospitaalvereniging van Suid-Afrika (Hasa) in Kaapstad hewig van mekaar verskil oor wat die redes vir ‘n skerp toename in die koste van mediese skemas is.
Matthew Prior, hoof van gesondheidsbeleid van Life Healtcare, sê ’n toename in benutting van gesondheidsdienste word die afgelope jare as die hoofoorsaak beskou vir hoë mediese inflasie. Hy sê die premieverhogings wat mediese skemas van hul lede eis, is die werklike maatstaf van mediese inflasie vir verbruikers.
Prior het die debat gelei oor die redes vir die toename in die benutting.
Navorsing deur Medscheme, die administrateur van mediese skemas, toon daar is ’n verband tussen ’n toename in hospitaalbeddens en die skerp styging in hospitalisasie wat verlede jaar ervaar is, sê dr. Jenni Noble, hoofbestuurder van Medscheme.
Die mededingingsowerhede se paneel wat die markondersoek na die gesondheidsbedryf doen, het in 2016
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#HASA2017: NHI needs to start delivering now
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South Africa can’t wait for the final National Health Insurance (NHI) system in 2026 to start delivering on universal health coverage, but needs to start implementing projects and programmes that will make a real difference in people’s lives now. And this can’t be done without cooperation between the public and private health sectors.
This was the overarching message in a high-level panel discussion of chief executives from the private healthcare sector at the Hospital Association of South Africa (Hasa) conference currently underway at the Cape Town International Centre.
White paper is not enough
“NHI, in principle is the right thing to do, but implementation is the key,” said Vishal Brijlal, National Department of Health (DoH) advisor on NHI. “We have a white paper, but that is not enough. The policy needs to be followed by planning, implementation, and cooperation.
“We can’t just wake up on 1 April 2026 and hope by some miracle that NHI will be
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Health Professions Council of SA pursues bogus health practitioners
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A rise in bogus health practitioners has forced the Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) and medical schemes to strengthen their forensics units to curb fraud. A team at the HPCSA is conducting about 400 investigations into bogus practitioners. To date, just more than 40 arrests have been made, but prosecutions are slow.
Data from this special investigation unit suggests that about 7% of all medical aid claims in SA are fraudulent and stem from both bogus practitioners and unscrupulous ones.
Estimates are that this type of fraud costs the private sector R22bn a year.
Bogus practitioners include those who had previously been registered with the HPCSA, but were struck off for various infractions, while others had no medical qualifications or experience and used practice numbers belonging to registered healthcare practitioners.
Eric Mphaphuli, a senior inspector at the council, said on Monday that, initially, his team had issues getting the police on board
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