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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Anger as KZN hospital sends child home with gaping wound
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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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Medical software crippled by recent cyber attack
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Many doctors still can’t use a transcription service made by Nuance Communications Inc. three weeks after the company was hit by a powerful, debilitating computer attack. Hospital systems including Beth Israel Deaconess in Boston and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center said eScription, a Nuance staple product that allows physicians to dictate notes from a..
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New gene editing technique could treat ALS and Huntington’s.
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A team of researchers from the University of California San Diego School of Medicine have developed a new RNA-oriented gene editing technique which could treat hereditary diseases such as ALS and Huntington’s. The team used a method called RNA-targeting CAS9 (RCas9) to track RNA in live cells and correct “molecular mistakes” which lead to diseases…
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Do Artificial Sweeteners Raise Odds for Obesity?
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Artificial sweeteners may be less helpful than many believe in helping people lose weight and avoid health problems associated with extra pounds, a new evidence review suggests. Aspartame, saccharin, sucralose and other artificial sweeteners did not lead to any significant weight loss in more than 1,000 participants in seven clinical trials, said lead researcher Meghan..
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The Real Truth: Antidepressants Actually Deplete These 3 Crucial Nutrients for the Brain !!
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Antidepressants are one of the most prescribed medications out there. One in six Americans takes antidepressants or other psychiatric medications, most of them (84.3%) on a long-term basis. (1) This is especially concerning when using addictive drugs like Valium and Xanax. (2) That number is more than double what it was in 1999. Many who..
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