Do more to address birth defects
SAHR 2016: SA has not reduced deaths of children under the age of five since 2011 as we have failed to address “congenital disorders”.
Health Systems
Read More » Do more to address birth defects
Hospitals ill-equipped to handle trauma cases
SAHR 2016: Injuries transport accidents and violence account for over a quarter of all emergency department visits, yet many hospitals are ill-equipped to deal with them
Water supply under threat from pollution
SAHR 2016: Sewage, acid mine drainage and climate change threaten the purity of our water supply.
Staff shortages, poor leadership cripple healthcare
There is a human resource crisis in healthcare that is driven partly by government tolerance of incompetent staff, according to Health Systems Trust’s South African Health Review 2016
Ambulance arrives too late to save teen
Lele Gangile, 19, thought he wanted to end his life but when he had second thoughts, an ambulance may have arrived too late to save the Orange Farm teen.
Report: South African Health Review 2016
The Health Systems Trust’s annual publication on health trends and topics in South Africa includes chapters on water and sanitation, eHealth, and sexual and reproductive health.
‘We can do better,’ doctor tells health market inquiry
In South Africa's two-tiered healthcare system, no one wins, testify doctors as the Competition Commission Inquiry into Private Healthcare resumes, writes Section27.
‘Unbearable’ Northern Cape clinic gets cleaner after almost a year
One Northern Cape clinic recently spent months without a cleaner, forcing nurses to trade their stethoscopes for mops. Now, the Northern Cape Department of Health has stepped in to help.
Policy guidelines: 72-hour Assessment of Involuntary Mental Healthcare Users
These 18-page guidelines list facility requirements for holding mental health patients for 72-hour involuntary assessments as well relevant procedure and guidelines for clinicians.
Policy guidelines: Seclusion and Restraint of Mental Health Care Users
The Department of Health’s guidelines detail how healthcare workers may use seclusion and physical restraint with mental patients and caution that these actions should be seen as a last resort.
Statement: Eastern Cape responds to South African Human Rights Commission report
The Eastern Cape Department of Health responds to an October 2015 South African Human Rights Commission report alleging that the province failed to adequately fulfill citizens’ rights to emergency medical services (EMS).
Report: Access to Emergency Medical Services in the Eastern Cape
In its 104-page report, the South African Human Rights Commission finds that the Eastern Cape Department of Health has failed to adequately fulfill the right that no person may be denied access to emergency medical services.
Medical staff caught changing medicine expiry dates
The Office of Health Standards Compliance (OHSC) allegedly discovered Charlotte Maxeke Hospital staff changing medicine expiration dates to conceal expired drugs, but staff at the Johannesburg hospital may not be the only ones, warns the OHSC following recent inspections.
Death, dying and silence in the Eastern Cape
One year after the South African Human Rights Commission found the Eastern Cape had failed to uphold citizens’ right to emergency care, communities are still waiting for answers, writes Ntsiki Mpulo.
Nurses forced to clean clinic after hours
Clean enough to eat off the floors is how some people would expect a clinic to be, but in one Northern Cape clinic this is far from the reality.