Medical Brief News Updates

An investigation into the treatment, complications and deaths of psychiatric patients at the Northern Cape Mental Health Hospital (NCMHH) and the Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe Hospital (RMSH) has uncovered alarming levels of systemic failure, gross negligence and widespread mismanagement – which all contributed directly to patient harm and in some cases… Read more »

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has said a new central hospital is under construction, that there are also plans to develop another three academic hospitals – in provinces that do not have any – and that three existing central hospitals are to be completely overhauled. And, in his budget vote presentation… Read more »

KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Health Nomagugu Simelane has called for Premier Thami Ntuli to investigate the allegations of corruption levelled against her, making the remarks at the 2025/26 budget debate and vote at the provincial legislature on Tuesday. IOL reports that the total health budget is R56.2bn, and Simelane promised it… Read more »

The owner of a rehabilitation centre in Limpopo has been arrested after the death of a 29-year-old man, who endured severe beatings during the eight days he was at the facility before dying in hospital. TimesLIVE reports that the centre owner (30) has been charged with murder. The patient had… Read more »

Two companies with links to Deputy President Paul Mashatile’s sons were paid R36.4m – and are owed a further R12.6m – for a Gauteng Government contract servicing fire alarms and sprinkler systems at public hospitals, reports News24. In June 2022, the Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development, acting as an implementing… Read more »

The breathtaking scale of the fraud involved in a mega-million-rand project to install oxygen generation plant at dozens of government hospitals has been revealed by Public Works Minister Dean Macpherson, reports Daily Maverick. The forensic investigation, conducted by PwC, came after Daily Maverick’s revelations in October 2024 that an apparent… Read more »

Two South Africans who thought they were to be trained as medical orderlies in the Ukraine have instead been arrested for desertion, after being forced into military training on their arrival in that country and then trying to flee. Their recruiter, a South African serving in Ukraine’s special forces, claimed… Read more »

Vinay Prasad, the US Food and Drug Administration’s chief medical and science officer, has left the health regulator, the Department of Health and Human Services – which oversees the FDA – has confirmed. The department said that Prasad “did not want to be a distraction to the great work of… Read more »

US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr says he plans to tweak the country’s compensation system for people harmed by vaccines, noting that in its current format, it merely protects vaccine makers from liability, and needs to be reworked. The compensation fund has paid out $5.4bn to 12 000 petitioners,… Read more »

US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr has threatened to close deficient organ procurement organisations after investigations uncovered disturbing practices, including procedures starting while patients were still showing signs of life. The department has announced a major reformative initiative, with Kennedy warning that the organ… Read more »