Living in toxic wasteland
Two women wage a daily struggle against toxic dust entering their homes and lungs, the legacy of mining on the West Rand, which yielded gold necklaces for some and bleeding sinuses and kidney disease for others.
featured
Read More » Living in toxic wasteland
New hospital shows cracks after just a year
A little more than a year after the Thelle Mogoerane Regional Hospital opened, cracks have already begun to show at the hospital literally as patients report cracked walls in at least one ward.
Limpopo ambulance shortage blamed for death
On the heels of a South African Human Commission announcement that a national inquriy will be held on the state of emergency medical services (EMS), another man’s death has been blamed on ambulance shortages – this time in Limpopo
Holy Cross patients ‘dying for no reason’ at beleaguered hospital
Medicine stock outs and staff shortages are just some of the reasons Holy Cross Hospital staff say patients may be dying unnecessarily at the beleaguered Eastern Cape hospital, writes Ntsiki Mpulo for the NSP Review.
Ermelo township mired in sewage
Residents of Ermelo’s Wesselton township say they are tired of blocked sewers that have been sending foul-smelling water into their yards for years.
Bulk of world’s MDR-TB cases undiagnosed – WHO
The world may be losing the war against the rise of drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) as the bulk of patients with multidrug-resistant TB go undiagnosed, according to the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) latest TB report.
Human breast milk banks on the rise
Kuruman’s Tshwaragano District Hospital is set to become home to South Africa’s latest human breast milk bank as another bank is reportedly slated to open in Limpopo.
KZN scholarships could be slashed due to high fee costs
For the first time in 14 years, KZN’s Umthombo Youth Development Foundation may not award scholarships to rural students hoping to study health sciences next year as fees increase by almost double the rate of inflation.
After #FeesMustFall: Hundreds of scholarships cut due to costs, austerity measures
Last week’s student victory has frozen fees, but it cannot save the scholarship programmes aimed at fostering the next generation of rural South African doctors that have already been quietly cut this year.
HPCSA embarks on public road show
The Health Professionals Council of South Africa (HPCSA) has embarked on a public road show to educate patients on their rights. The move comes amid recent stiff criticism of the body.
Kuruman police allegedly threaten sex workers for free services
Carrying a badge and wearing a uniform have not stopped Kuruman police from allegedly threatening sex workers in an attempt to coerce sex workers to provide their services for free, according to Northern Cape Provincial AIDS Council Chairperson Beau Nkaelang.
Exodus of Free State doctors
Newly released Free State health indicators show all is not well in the troubled province as the province loses a unprecedented 177 medical doctors in the last year.
Report: District Health Barometer 2014/15
The annual publication by the Health Systems Trust charts the lowest mother-to-child HIV transmission rate yet as the percentage of babies born to women living with HIV who test positive for the virus at about six weeks falls to 1.5 percent.
Council refuses to register plastic surgeon after 8 years of free service
For the past eight years, Kenyan Dr Michael Rebeiro has been treating South African patients for free while he specialised as a plastic surgeon at Wits University.
Mining: The fox is in charge of the hen house
Poisoned air, water and earth - our health is being undermined everywhere by mining companies. Yet mining is the only sector that does not need environmental approval from the Department of Environmental Affairs to go ahead with its operations.