President Thabo Mbeki says government is looking for ways in which the public and private health sectors can collaborate in "principled partnerships" that will help reduce the gap in health access between rich and poor. He told delegates at the National Health Summit in Johannesburg that "imagination and commitment" were needed to overcome some of the persistent obstacles to better health care.
In her opening address to the National Health Summit, the Minister of Health, Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang has reiterated Government's commitment to addressing HIV/AIDS in the country. She also admitted that despite good intentions, Government had made mistakes which had hampered the achievement of improved access to health services and quality of care. However she said the challenge now was to admit the mistakes and re-direct policy where necessary.
The Indigenous Knowledge System unit at the Medical Research Council, headed by Dr Gilbert Matsabisa has identified two plants that might provide a cure for malaria. At this stage the researchers don't wish to name the plants but they are optimistic that they will prove to be suitable candidates for a "permanent cure". In this audio report Dr Matsabisa also emphasises the need to work with traditional healers to allow scientists to find out more about traditional medicines.
The closure or scaling back of the Kempton Park, Germiston, Edenvale, Far East Rand, Pholong and Nigel hospitals has put severe pressure on Tambo Memorial.
Gauteng'€™s head of health says standards will soon be set for long long people should have to wait to be treated at the province'€™s health facilities. By Kerry Cullinan
The access to health services in South Africa remains severely skewed where more than 80 percent of people have no medical aid or health insurance and rely on a depleted public health service to meet their needs.
Nurses in Gauteng may soon be able to work in Britain as part of an exchange programme being negotiated by the provincial government.
South African medical schools will from next year admit 100 students from regions in the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
Medical schools have welcomed a move by the health department to introduce community service for a further seven health professions, the majority by 2003.
There was an urgent need to make healthcare facilities and services for the elderly more accessible to the entire population in the Western Cape and not only to those living in Sea Point and Claremont, delegates argued at the recent racism conference held in the province.
A chronic shortage of staff is mainly responsible for the deterioration of patient care in a number of state health facilities, particularly in rural areas and small towns, according to Dr Elma de Vries, newly elected chairperson of the Rural Doctors' Association of SA.
Despite the fact that most rural doctors work in more difficult conditions than their urban counterparts, they generally enjoy fewer benefits and are often treated as second class citizens by the medical fraternity. In a presentation to the annual conference of the Rural Doctors Association of South Africa this past weekend the dean of the medical faculty at Wits University, Prof Max Price, suggested a new approach to begin to value rural doctors for their skills.
In many rural hospitals around the country, young doctors are shouldering responsibilities that far outweigh their years and experience. This situation is not only unsustainable, it can also have harmful and potentially fatal consequences for patients in rural areas. This was one of the issues raised at a two-day meeting of health care workers who attended the Rural Doctors Association of South Africa held in Hartswater in the North West Province at the weekend.
South Africans who are as at home surfing the Internet as they are at catching waves are in double danger of damaging their eyes.
University medical schools are revising their curricula in an effort to produce doctors who are as at home in rural clinics as urban hospitals. In order to attract a wider cross-section of students from all population groups entry levels are to be lowered, but the exit criteria for graduates will remain the same.
