What the Public Protector’s food safety investigation reveals about Gauteng’s public health early warning system

Posted in: #Vote4Health, Healthcare system, Latest

From inspecting spaza shops to monitoring water quality, Environmental Health Practitioners help prevent disease before outbreaks occur. A Public Protector investigation reveals why Gauteng municipalities are struggling to deliver these essential public health services. The investigation also helps clarify what will be at stake in South Africa’s local government elections in November. Christina Pitt reports.

What the Public Protector’s food safety investigation reveals about Gauteng’s public health early warning system

It is time for SA to get serious about the link between substance abuse and mental health

Posted in: Healthcare system, Latest, Opinions, Perspectives, Spotlight

Substance abuse is both a symptom and a consequence of untreated mental illness, and government needs to urgently step in to confront this dangerous overlap, argues Gauta Mashego of SECTION27.

It is time for SA to get serious about the link between substance abuse and mental health

What the law actually says about migrants’ right to access healthcare in SA

Posted in: Healthcare system, Latest, Opinions, Spotlight

The media has reported several incidents where people were turned away at public healthcare facilities because they did not possess South African identity documents. As related cases slowly grind through the courts, Teri Brown and Thembi Mahlathi of SECTION27 connect the dots between what the law says and what people are experiencing.

What the law actually says about migrants’ right to access healthcare in SA

Russell Rensburg | Consolidate the funding of South Africa’s district health system: why reform can’t wait

Posted in: Healthcare system, Latest, Opinions, Perspectives, Spotlight

District managers in South Africa’s public healthcare system currently have to juggle funding from multiple government budget lines, each with different strings attached. To improve district health services, we urgently need to simplify and integrate these funding flows, argues Russell Rensburg.

Russell Rensburg | Consolidate the funding of South Africa’s district health system: why reform can’t wait

Are clinical trial participants in South Africa protected?

Posted in: #InsideTheBox, Healthcare system, Latest, Special Investigations, Spotlight

Clinical trial participants appear to be well protected in South Africa, particularly as the country’s guidelines recognise the risks of research with international collaborators. The sudden end of US-funded clinical trials, however, is exposing some limitations of ethics codes and guidelines, argues Dr Andy Gray.

Are clinical trial participants in South Africa protected?

NHI offers an opportunity to boost primary healthcare – we must seize it

Posted in: Healthcare system, Latest, NHI, Opinions, Perspectives, Spotlight

To see National Health Insurance primarily as the setting up of a state-run medical aid scheme risks underplaying its massive potential to restructure how public healthcare services are organised and funded, and with that, its potential to boost the delivery of primary healthcare services in South Africa, argues Russell Rensburg.

NHI offers an opportunity to boost primary healthcare – we must seize it

OPINION: Mid-term budget fails to show the way to a more resilient recovery

Posted in: Healthcare system, Latest

The Medium-term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) was tabled amid a grim global economic outlook and a climate of increasing political uncertainty, electricity supply challenges, and very high unemployment. Russell Rensburg argues the MTBPS fails to provide a credible path toward a resilient recovery and sets out what can be done to strengthen governance and build social solidarity around the recovery we need.

OPINION: Mid-term budget fails to show the way to a more resilient recovery

Mothers and babies pay the price for medical xenophobia

Posted in: Healthcare system, Latest, Opinions, Perspectives

Pregnant and breastfeeding women and young children should have free healthcare services, irrespective of nationality and documentation status. It is an entitlement that our law already affords them and one that we will continue to defend writes Thembi Mahlathi and Sibusisiwe Ndlela.

Mothers and babies pay the price for medical xenophobia

Questions raised over functionality of Eastern Cape clinic committees

Posted in: Spotlight

In recent years damning findings from the Public Protector, the Human Rights Commission, the Public Service Commission, and the community-led monitoring group Ritshidze have been piling up against the Eastern Cape Department of Health. Luvuyo Mehlwana asks what value clinic committees and hospital boards can add to help improve public healthcare services in the province.

Questions raised over functionality of Eastern Cape clinic committees

New ambulances for Northern Cape, but old problems remain

Posted in: Healthcare system, Latest, Northern Cape, Provinces

Staff shortages, lack of equipment, and not having enough ambulances on the road are all challenges hampering response times and the quality of emergency medical services (EMS) in the Northern Cape. Refilwe Mochoari spoke to relevant stakeholders, including healthcare users and EMS staff about these perennial problems and what is needed to fix them.

New ambulances for Northern Cape, but old problems remain

One second-trimester public abortion facility in the entire Eastern Cape is not good enough

Posted in: Eastern Cape, Healthcare system, Latest, Opinions, Provinces

Second-trimester abortions, which occur between the beginning of the 13th and the end of the 20th week of pregnancy, are difficult to access in the public sector. This is mainly due to the lack of designated abortion facilities and the unavailability of abortion providers to provide the service and the Eastern Cape is no exception, writes Sibusisiwe Ndlela, Khanyisa Mapipa, and Thokozile Mtsolongo.

One second-trimester public abortion facility in the entire Eastern Cape is not good enough

What the Law Reform Commission’s proposals on medico-legal cases can mean for claimants

Posted in: Healthcare system, Latest, Opinions, Perspectives

The South African Law Reform Commission recently published its discussion paper on medico-legal claims. Baone Twala unpacks the Commission’s proposals on law reform and what it may mean for claimants and the government.