The Special Tribunal has ordered four ambulance companies run by Thapelo Buthelezi to pay back a total of over half-a-billion rand. The matter relates to contracts awarded by the Free State government, which were first reported on in Spotlight’s #Health4Sale series of investigative articles in 2018.
People who live near Thusong District Hospital, which closed in 2022, and the Christiana District Hospital, which was destroyed by fire in 2021, told Spotlight’s Nthusang Lefafa they are frustrated over long ambulance wait times, overcrowded clinics, and the high cost of traveling to alternative healthcare facilities
A new health research hub brings hope of improving health services in the Rustenburg Valley in the North West Province. Nthusang Lefafa finds out more about how the Bafokeng Health and Demographic Surveillance System Node will work and what it has to offer.
Sello Lehari is the newly-appointed MEC for health in the North West province. Critics have doubts about his deployment while healthcare unions stand ready with several items for his to-do list. Spotlight’s Nthusang Lefafa asked the new MEC about his plans.
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.
2023 was a busy year for healthcare in South Africa. We saw several promising policy developments, landmark court cases, important pieces of legislation, and some changes in leadership. Yet, take a step back and at facility level little seems to have changed. Shortages of healthcare workers persist, corruption is still rife, budgets tight, and our health governance crisis remains as acute as ever. Marcus Low looks back at the year in health in fewer than 1 000 words.
The North West has passed the one million mark for COVID-19 jabs administered. Nthusang Lefafa unpacks the vaccination numbers, reasons for the province having some of the lowest vaccination numbers in the country, and how it is working to catch up.
MPs this weekend made their 7th pitstop for the public hearings on the National Health Insurance Bill (NHI). With seven provinces covered thus far, only the Western Cape and Gauteng remains.
Over 70 North West doctors have released an open letter expressing their concern over the impact the ongoing labour action is having on the delivery of health services.
The North West Department of Health blew over R100-million expressly earmarked for HIV on two controversial private ambulance companies. Serious red flags are also raised by some of the invoices submitted by one of these companies.
Spotlight joins the dots in this two-part investigative feature Health4Sale.
