Yoliswa Sobuwa
The bogus doctor arrested at Tembisa Tertiary Hospital on Tuesday night was a patient at the facility just last month. Gauteng health department tells Health-e News that a preliminary investigation reveals that the 37-year-old woman was caught in the same ward she was admitted in as a patient from 23 to 28 May. The department’s spokesperson Motalatale Modiba says the woman was caught by nurses while she was pretending to be doing rounds at the general ward at the hospital. She was wearing a black tracksuit, with a mask and a stethoscope around her neck. “The nurses became suspicious when they interacted with her. Her medical knowledge was questionable. Security personnel were notified of the suspected imposter. She was asked to produce her Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) registration number and her persal number and she failed to do that,” Modiba says. The bogus doctor was arrested by
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148 people die of tuberculosis (TB) daily in South Africa. According to the South African TB survey, South Africa is one of thirty high burden TB countries that contribute to 87% of estimated incident cases worldwide. Speaking at the opening of the 8th SA TB Conference in Durban yesterday, Health Deputy Minister, Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo said poverty, inequality and undernutrition remain the primary drivers of South Africa’s TB epidemic. The solution, he says, is a multifaceted approach that includes improved diagnostic tools, better healthcare worker training, enhanced patient tracking systems, stigma reduction and lowering of financial barriers associated with treatment. “One major issue is the inadequate testing for people living with TB, which hampers early diagnosis and treatment. This problem is mostly common in children, where case finding is limited due to health worker uncertainty and the difficulty of obtaining samples from young patients,” he says. Another critical challenge is
On April 23, a 23-year-old pregnant woman, days away from her due date, was forced to leave a shelter provided by People Opposing Women Abuse (POWA) as the organisation shut its doors due to budget cuts. This closure is a direct consequence of the Gauteng Department of Social Development (GDSD) slashing its budget. This is the second year GDSD has run short of funding for the 767 non-profit organisations (NPOs) in Gauteng it supports. In mid-May, Premier Panyaza Lesufi said the 2024/25 budget, which was cut to R1.8-billion, will be increased to R2.4-billion. At least 100 NPOs across the province are affected. Thoko Budaza, the executive director of POWA, expressed deep concern over the impact of these budget cuts. “The young woman had no place to go. She was raped, and her family sided with the rapist. It was heartbreaking to see her leave just before her due date. She
