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.
Six months after Spotlight first reported on the plight of stoma patients experiencing shortages of colostomy and urostomy bags at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Gauteng, users are still reporting shortages at Baragwanath and other hospitals in the province. Thabo Molelekwa reports.
Professor Rudo Mathivha became director of the Intensive Care Unit at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital in July 1999, holding her own in a white male-dominated space. Biénne Huisman chatted with Mathivha about her impressive journey, her deep commitment to patients, and the ongoing challenges at the country’s largest hospital.
Already bogged down by loadshedding, operations at various health facilities in Gauteng and a few other provinces have also been disrupted due to cable theft, creating another layer of risk for patients and healthcare workers. This is despite millions being paid for security at these health facilities. Thabo Molelekwa reports.
From around March to June this year, there was a shortage of colostomy bags at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto. This meant that public sector patients were, at times, sent home with too few or the wrong bags. Thabo Molelekwa reports.
The number of newborn babies dying from neonatal sepsis is rising as the antibiotics used to treat them are not working effectively, a landmark international study has found. Adele Baleta reports on the findings and their implications for newborns in South Africa.
Newly graduated Dr Leago Sebesho says she is learning on her feet during gruelling shifts at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital in Soweto. Biénne Huisman caught up with the twenty-five-year-old Sebesho, who was recently awarded the Bongani Mayosi Leadership Prize at the University of Cape Town.
More than three quarters of 200 hospitals surveyed from across the globe report that their paediatric cancer care services had been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a study published in the Lancet medical journal. Yet, some large centres in South Africa appear to have been relatively unaffected. Kathryn Cleary reports.
As South Africa prepared for the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals had to come up with plans to deal with the expected influx of COVID-19 patients. Part of this plan was that hospitals would minimise or temporarily put elective procedures on hold. Now, with the country at alert level 1 of its lockdown, Tiyese Jeranji looks at how four provinces are again phasing in elective procedures.
The South African National Institute for Communicable Diseases on Tuesday declared multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) a Notifiable Medical Condition. Elna Schütz spoke with doctors who have been treating this rare and dangerous condition.
Timothy Lebelwane of Diepsloot is one of 2 000 people in South Africa participating in a COVID-19 vaccine trial spearheaded by Wits University. Biénne Huisman spoke to him about life as a participant in such an important vaccine trial.
