Doctors in limbo as E Cape orders health lockdown
Mail & Guardian | 26 January 2012
The Eastern Cape health department has been ordered to stop the appointment of all new doctors and cut its budget by R205-million, in a move that may leave as many as 400 junior doctors, who are currently performing community service, in limbo.
According to a report by the Herald newspaper, the department was instructed by provincial treasury to cut its budget and stop the appointments of all new doctors in a bid to recoup on an over-expenditure of nearly R660-million.
According to a...
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E Cape ordered to cut health budget
News 24 | 26 January 2012
The Eastern Cape health department has been ordered to cut its budget by R205m and stop the appointment of all new doctors, according to a report on Thursday.
The instruction from the provincial treasury is a bid to recoup on an over-expenditure of nearly R660m, The Herald reported.
According to a letter written by the treasury last month, the measures must be implemented in the current financial year.
The treasury forecasts a further overdraft of R452m if drastic cost-cutting...
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Rural hospitals buckle as foreign docs delayed
Health-e News | 25 January 2012
Rural hospitals in South Africa are facing a serious doctor shortage in 2012 as a result of delays in registering foreign qualified doctors and the failure to place community service doctors in underserved hospitals.
Many of the foreign qualified doctors who provide essential medical care in remote and rural parts of South Africa are from the Developed World (United Kingdom, Europe, Canada, USA, Australia and New Zealand) and their training and experience is considered equivalent to that...
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HIV-Aids researcher awarded R6m prize
The New Age | 25 January 2012
University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Prof Thumbi Ndung’u is one of 28 biomedical scientists from 12 countries chosen for a prestigious award from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s inaugural international early career scientist on Tuesday.
Ndung’u is the director of the HIV pathogenesis programme at the Doris Duke Medical Research Institute at UKZN and holds the South African research chair in systems biology of HIV-Aids at UKZN, leading a multidisciplinary team of...
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Expect conditional NHI audit grant in Budget
Times Live | 25 January 2012
A conditional grant may be given in February's Budget to help fund an audit of health facilities prior to the National Health Insurance rollout, according to a tax expert.
Implementation of the new health policy is due to take place over the next 14 years, but expert from Deloitte, Ashleigh Theophanides, said on Wednesday this would likely start with an audit of existing facilities.
"There has been a lot of poor management at healthcare facilities, for example the number of...
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KZN scientist makes HIV/Aids breakthrough
Differences in the rate of development of Aids among HIVinfected people have led KZN investigators to identify a tiny subset of “HIV controllers” who possess rare protective genes that incapacitate the virus.
It is hoped these new discoveries may ultimately lead to a vaccine against HIV/Aids.
Among these investigators is a young KZN scientist Thumbi Ndung’u, who has been awarded a R5 million US Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) International Early Career Scientist...
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Provincial health department in ICU
Times Live | 25 January 2012
Massive overspending by the Eastern Cape health department has forced the provincial treasury to oversee the hiring of its staff and introduce drastic cost-cutting.
With the department almost R700-million in the red for the 2010-2011 financial year, the treasury adopted a big brother approach to "arrest possible overdraft" of provincial revenue and avoid the embarrassment of the department being placed under national administration.
The Eastern Cape education department, and the...
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Global Fund chief quits after funding cuts
Reuters | 24 January 2012
The head of the Global Fund, the largest backer of the fight against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, will step down in March after a misuse of funds led it to cut back on new grants to battle the diseases.
Michel Kazatchkine has been the Global Fund's executive director for five years, half its life, but was sidelined in November after the organisation said it would be forced to cut grants and was bringing in a new manager.
The Fund said it had appointed Gabriel Jaramillo, a Brazilian...
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UNAIDS commits its support to the Global Fund and calls for solidarity
In the ten years since the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund) was established, the organization has made a profound difference in saving millions of lives around the world. It has created momentum and helped countries achieve results.
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Gauteng grapples with hospitals and 'haircuts'
Mail & Guardian | 24 January 2012
The Gauteng provincial government is taking steps to decentralise the management of essential services so that hospitals have more control over their daily running.
In addition, provincial departments will take a 3% "haircut" in order to raise R700-million to pay off part of the province's debt.
This is according to Gauteng's finance minister, Mandla Nkomfe, who addressed the media at a press conference held in Johannesburg on Monday, to refute reports that it had...
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Gauteng pays health suppliers R400m
Business Day | 24 January 2012
The health department owes providers for services delivered as far back as 2007 and the R400m paid out over the past month does not address all of the backlog
THE Gauteng government has thrown a lifeline to companies supplying goods and services to its health department, paying out R400m owed to them.
The National Treasury intervened in the Gauteng health department and the Gauteng Shared Services Centre in December due to concern about maladministration, with the delay in payments to...
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Shortage of dentists raises risk of cancer
Times Live | 24 January 2012
South Africans are increasingly exposed to the risks of mouth and throat cancer because of a chronic shortage of dentists.
According to the South African Dental Association, there are possibly fewer than 3500 practising dentists in the country.
"Your oral cavity is never examined unless you go to a dentist," said Professor André van Zyl, of the School of Dentistry at the University of Pretoria.
He was speaking at a press briefing in Cape Town yesterday to highlight the...
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