Both Life Esidimeni and Listeriosis exposed leadership cracks in our public health system. Are political leaders held accountable for their actions?
Nineteen boys were rescued from an Eastern Cape initiation school on Tuesday, police said. Captain Mduduzi Godlwana said the 19 boys at an initiation school in Mgodini were found to be in a serious condition.
Four boys died after they were rescued from initiation schools in the Eastern Cape, the provincial health department said on Monday. Spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said that in a joint ongoing operation, which started on Friday, 87 boys were rescued from illegal initiation schools.
Durban’s disaster-management team and city officials are busy calculating the cost of damage caused during a heavy downpour on Tuesday night that continued into the early hours of Wednesday. Two oil refineries, hospitals, courts, homes, shacks, railway lines, buildings and roads were affected by the overnight storm.
Search-and-rescue workers saved 20 people trapped in cars and homes by rising water in a heavy overnight downpour in Durban. ”We used a police boat to move many people away from the Island Hotel in Isipingo and we assisted several others who were stuck in cars due to rising flood water,” said Captain Troy Alison.
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/ 21 February 2008
The KwaZulu-Natal health department has dropped a misconduct charge against rural doctor Colin Pfaff, following a storm of protest, the doctor confirmed on Thursday. Pfaff faced the charge for administering dual therapy — two antiretroviral drugs — to prevent the infection of babies born to HIV-positive mothers.
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/ 14 February 2008
The Department of Health on Thursday released a revised policy and guidelines clearing the way for dual therapy in the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. At the same time, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang dismissed claims that her department was reluctant to implement the new regime.
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/ 28 November 2007
Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said on Wednesday that further investigation into the outbreak of klebsiella at a Durban hospital, where five babies died, was needed. In a statement, the minister said she had been briefed by the management of the Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital on the outbreak.
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/ 17 November 2007
About 500 members of the South African Communist Party (SACP), and farm workers marched through the streets of Rustenburg on Saturday, protesting against the state of clinics and hospitals, as well as living conditions on farms. The march was part of the SACP’s Red October programme, which focused on public health institutions.
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/ 7 November 2007
More than 40 cases of diarrhoea were reported in the Nkangala area in Delmas, Mpumalanga, on Wednesday, the provincial health department said. ”We had 44 more patients treated today [Wednesday]. That brings the number to 469 since the outbreak [two weeks ago],” said departmental spokesperson Mpho Gabashane.
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/ 30 October 2007
The Nkangala area of Delmas has been hit by an outbreak of diarrhoea, the provincial health department in Mpumalanga said on Tuesday. ”Under normal circumstances 10 cases of diarrhoea are reported in a week, but we treated 47 people last week and 26 yesterday [Monday],” said spokesperson Mpho Gabashane.
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/ 24 October 2007
The Eikenhof Clinic, south of Johannesburg, has not had power for the past two weeks, the provincial health department said on Wednesday. Spokesperson Zanele Mngadi said Eskom cut the electricity two weeks ago because the electricity bill had not been paid. ”The account was not paid because of administration challenges and we are currently in talks with Eskom,” she said.
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/ 14 October 2007
Following a tip-off from a member of the public, about 100 000 unused defective condoms were found scattered at an illegal dumping site in the Ntande area near Etafuleni in Inanda, north of Durban, on Saturday, the provincial department of agriculture and environmental affairs said.
Telephone bills and furniture were prioritised over hospital equipment at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, the national and provincial health departments said on Thursday. In a joint statement, the departments cited ”deficiencies on the management side” as the reason the hospital did not have required equipment.