It starts with a swab but does it end with a diagnosis? Why the trickiest part of DIY HIV testing happens after the test The trick, says Ann Moore as she pulls the small white stick from the plastic packaging, is not just to swab the gums but to scrape them. The doctor sticks the..
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Would you test for HIV in your living room?
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Anger as KZN hospital sends child home with gaping wound
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A child is back in a KwaZulu-Natal hospital after being discharged with a gaping bleeding wound‚ forcing his aunt to turn to Twitter to demand help. But the health department disputes the version of events. The 8-year-old boy was discharged from Madadeni hospital in Newcastle on Monday with an open wound‚ following an appendix operation…
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Medical aids spying on doctors with hidden cameras – High Court claim
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The National Healthcare Professionals Association of South Africa has filed papers in the Pretoria High Court accusing 19 medical aid schemes of spying on doctors and sneaking hidden cameras into their consulting rooms. The Sunday Times reported that medical aids are also allegedly holding back payments to doctors due to unproven misconduct. The association –..
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Probe exonerates Livingstone Hospital in death and maggots row
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Livingstone Hospital investigations have found that nobody can be held liable for two shocking incidents in which a patient fell to his death from the fifth floor and maggots hatched in the wound of another. But the family of Zakes Mbeki, 29, who fell from the fifth story of the hospital early on Christmas morning,..
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Is SA’s healthcare getting better?
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Globally, noncommunicable diseases were responsible for 70% of deaths in 2015, up from 60% in 2000. Ischaemic heart disease was the leading cause of death accounting for 8.8 million deaths in 2015, followed by stroke (6.2 million deaths) and lower respiratory infections (3.2 million deaths). Communicable (infectious) diseases, on the other hand, were the cause..
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The maddening state of Gauteng’s psychiatric facilities
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A massive shortages of hospital beds for psychiatric patients in Gauteng is compromising patient care. Gauteng is short of about 2700 psychiatric beds which means that psychiatric patients have to be admitted to general wards where there is no security, thus posing a threat both to themselves and others. This was revealed recently by Gauteng..
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Google search adds medical quiz to help diagnose depression.
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Google has integrated a medially-certified quiz into its search results to help users determine whether they have depression. Users in the United States who search Google for depression or clinical depression will now be greeted with a link labelled “Check if you are clinically depressed”. The link opens an integrated PHQ-9 questionnaire, which helps to..
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Nearly 2 million will lose private healthcare if tax reform happens
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The government’s plan to ditch medical aid tax credits will have a disastrous effect on already cash-strapped South Africans and force nearly 2 million people onto the over-stretched state health system. If the tax credit is removed, 22% of medical aid users will not be able to afford cover, Stellenbosch economics consultancy Econex warned in..
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Tygerberg Hospital performs its first deep brain stimulation
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A man with tardive dystonia became the first adult to undergo deep brain stimulation (DBS) at a Western Cape state hospital. His condition drastically improved following the procedure at Tygerberg. Until now it had only been performed on a few children at the Red Cross Children’s Hospital. The dystonia was a side effect of an..
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Edenvale hospitaal erg gevandaliseer deur ontevrede pasiënte
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Sekere dele van die Sizwe hospitaal in Edenvale is erg beskadig deur ‘n brand wat deur ontevrede pasiënte aangerig is. Die aanleiding daartoe was dat ‘n verpleegster dwelms en drank gekonfiskeer het wat pasiënte ingesmokkel het. Dit het hulle woedend gemaak. Hulle het daarop deur die hospitaal beweeg en enigiets wat breekbaar was, gebreek. Die..
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