The Constitutional Court reserved judgement on Wednesday on the Department of Health’s application relating to disputed medicine-pricing regulations, without ruling immediately on which regulations are currently in force. The department had asked the court for leave to appeal a Supreme Court of Appeal ruling that declared its new regulations invalid.
The setting of medicine prices came under intense scrutiny at the Constitutional Court on Tuesday. The court is being asked for leave to appeal a Supreme Court of Appeal ruling that the new medicine-pricing regulations invalid are invalid. Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang told journalists the case is all about access to safe and affordable medicines.
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/ 25 January 2005
Discount pharmacy chain Dis-Chem was hurriedly altering its pricing system on Tuesday after it was found that Discovery Health medical aid members were charged more for their medicines than other customers. Dis-Chem has been commended by the Department of Health for abiding by its regulations.
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/ 19 January 2005
Two of South Africa’s most promising young cyclists were among the five men who died in a plane crash in the Free State on Tuesday, the manager of South Africa’s national cycling team said on Wednesday. Cyclists Jaco de Witt and Jaco Odendaal, along with three others, were on board an Aerostar light aircraft on their way to Harrismith.
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/ 18 January 2005
The Department of Health on Monday urged the public to report pharmacists not abiding by the maximum R26 dispensing fee rule for medication. The government insists this is the legal maximum that pharmacists may charge. ”We urge South Africans to refuse to be subjected to this exploitation,” the department said.
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/ 13 January 2005
Uncertainty surrounds exactly which medicine-pricing regulations are currently in force, with the Department of Health and pharmacists each insisting that a different law is in place. In December, the Supreme Court of Appeal ordered that the newly introduced medicine-pricing regulations be ”declared invalid and of no force and effect”.
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/ 24 November 2004
City Power technicians worked through the night to rebuild a transformer that was burnt on Monday night and said on Wednesday they had been able to restore power to about 15% of Johannesburg’s western suburbs. City Power Vice-President Silas Zimu said they had hoped to prioritise areas which had hospitals, but due to the severity of the fire damage at the Hurst Hill transformer, it had not been possible to be selective.
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/ 18 November 2004
”There can never be an end to the pain,” said Julia Ntsoane, whose sister Mampo was one of the 43 people killed in a stampede at Ellis Park on April 11 2001. Ntsoane was one of a small group of people gathered on Thursday for the winding-up of the Ellis Park Disaster Relief Fund, which was established immediately after the tragedy.
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/ 11 November 2004
No licence application by a dispensing doctor has been turned down, the Constitutional Court heard on Thursday. This was in response to argument by dispensing doctors that their constitutional right to practice freely is being hampered by regulations linking the licence to where a health practitioner plans to operate.
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/ 4 November 2004
The minister of home affairs made an impassioned plea on Thursday for foreigners to apply for the necessary permits to be in the country legally. In a personal statement to the South African Human Rights Commission hearings on xenophobia, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said: ”There are many different permits they can apply for in South Africa.”