Questions over tripling of Gauteng Health’s security budget

Questions over tripling of Gauteng Health’s security budget

In just two years, the Gauteng health department’s spending on security has more than tripled. Ufrieda Ho tries to get to the bottom of the ballooning bills and what it means for governance in the department.

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Gauteng state doctors gear up to fight health department over overtime payments

Gauteng state doctors gear up to fight health department over overtime payments

Trade unions, medical associations and universities are raising the alarm that Gauteng budget cuts at the cost of doctors’ take-home pay will have dire consequences for public sector health. Meanwhile, the National Minister of Health has convened a committee to review the future of overtime for state doctors. Ufrieda Ho reports.

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Gauteng MEC threatens schoolgirls’ bodily autonomy with compulsory implant

Gauteng MEC threatens schoolgirls’ bodily autonomy with compulsory implant

The bodily autonomy of young women and girls is under threat as Gauteng Health and Wellness MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko intends to make the contraceptive implanon compulsory for learners as long as their parents consent. This approach to addressing teenage pregnancy is misguided and unlawful, argues Khuselwa Dyantyi. 

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Critics raise alarm over leadership issues at Gauteng health department

Critics raise alarm over leadership issues at Gauteng health department

Several opposition politicians and commentators have flagged what appears to be chronic leadership problems at the Gauteng Department of Health. Ufrieda Ho reports.

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Signed and stalled: Critical healthcare deal in Gauteng teetering on the brink

Signed and stalled: Critical healthcare deal in Gauteng teetering on the brink

An extended impasse over a vital agreement for training and improved hospital management between the Gauteng Department of Health and Wits University remains derailed, despite behind the scenes efforts to get it back on track, reports Ufrieda Ho.

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Highrises, hellholes and healthcare – Hillbrow’s heritage story

Highrises, hellholes and healthcare – Hillbrow’s heritage story

Hillbrow started out as Johannesburg’s first health hub in the late 1880s. It’s also been a suburb associated with pimps and prostitution, a middle finger to the Nationalist Party, and a key site of the HIV crisis. Today, it’s the forgotten flatlands of inner city decay … but in small pockets it stays true to its heritage of bringing healthcare to the city’s most overlooked.

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EDITORIAL | Behind the Life Esidimeni headlines is the suffering of human beings who deserved better

EDITORIAL | Behind the Life Esidimeni headlines is the suffering of human beings who deserved better

While we focus here on the nine deaths that Judge Mmonoa Teffo found to be unnatural, there were 144 deaths associated with the Life Esidimeni tragedy. Ultimately, these were human beings and for the world to know what happened to them is better than the world not knowing.

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Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko’s comeback as Gauteng health MEC sparks mixed reactions

Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko’s comeback as Gauteng health MEC sparks mixed reactions

ANC support in Gauteng dipped below 40% in the recent provincial elections and an ANC-lead minority government is now at the helm. Among those in Premier Panyaza Lesufi’s new Cabinet is Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko who’s been reappointed as MEC for health and wellness. Spotlight’s Ufrieda Ho rounds up some responses to her return.

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Of South Africa’s nine health MECs, five are new

Of South Africa’s nine health MECs, five are new

Following South Africa’s 2024 national and provincial elections, the decisions about the top health jobs in the country’s nine provinces have now all been made. Elri Voigt rounds up the appointments.

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#Vote4Health | Several political parties dodge questions on how they plan to improve health in Gauteng

#Vote4Health | Several political parties dodge questions on how they plan to improve health in Gauteng

What is at stake in South Africa’s upcoming provincial elections when it comes to healthcare? Ufrieda Ho put questions to five political parties about their plans to get Gauteng Health on track to better healthcare services after the polls. Only two parties responded .

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OPEN LETTER | R784 million goes unspent as cancer patients continue to die

OPEN LETTER | R784 million goes unspent as cancer patients continue to die

In this hard-hitting open letter, SECTION27, Cancer Alliance and TAC activists argue that the Gauteng Department of Health has failed in fulfilling its obligations to provide radiation oncology services while over 3 000 cancer patients wait for treatment.

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A year after a damning report, some green shoots at Rahima Moosa Hospital

A year after a damning report, some green shoots at Rahima Moosa Hospital

Spotlight visits Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital and sees progress for the struggling hospital but also the reality that there’s a long road ahead to undo what a health ombud report suggests has been years of neglect and poor management.

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