Posts tagged with 'Healthcare'

 

National Health Insurance legislation will hit private hospital sector’s future investment and capital expenditure, NHI laws threaten 132,000 jobs

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National Health Insurance (NHI), which the government is pushing as the solution to SA’s health crisis, could lead to the loss of up to 132,000 jobs, according to the country’s private hospital groups.

NHI, spearheaded by health minister Aaron Motsoaledi, is the government’s policy for introducing universal health coverage and aims to ensure everyone has access to healthcare that is free at the point of service.

The Hospital Association of SA (Hasa), which represents the private hospital sector, was among the industry groups that presented their views on the risks to the economy at last week’s Business Unity SA (Busa) meeting.

The gathering brought together business and government leaders, who have been trying to forge a closer relationship under the auspices of the Public Private Growth Initiative spearheaded by former politician Roelf Meyer and Toyota Europe and Africa CEO Johan van Zyl.

Hasa commissioned economics consultancy E
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‘Horrifying Cruelty By The ANC – South Africans endure pain, suffering and neglect at Robert Sobukwe Hospital

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‘Horrifying Cruelty By The ANC; Onlookers Shocked in Ward 31 This Morning’

South Africans endure pain, suffering and neglect at Robert Sobukwe Hospital, Kimberley last night and this morning. This photo shows the sick and injured who are forced to lie on cold floors. Many cry in anguish and discomfort, and embarrassment. Their frustration is evident, some wail in pain and frustration, others beg desperately for help from hospital workers, to no avail.

If you are sick or injured, don’t come to Robert Sobukwe Hospital, ANC Ward 31, unless you plan to leave you dignity at the door.

“Why has our government forgotten us?” cries a young teenage girl. She holds the hand of her grandmother who looks extremely weak. I looked into her grandmother’s eyes and saw no emotion, her tears have dried in salty streaks down her cheeks, disappearing under her wrinkled chin, the smell of urine comes from her chair. Her suffering is wrappe
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Hard times lies ahead for the ANC’s Department of Health:- angry nurses says, No jobs, no vote

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“No jobs, no vote,” shouted disgruntled nurses who marched to the provincial health department in Pietermaritzburg.

Hundreds of nurses carried placards and handed over a memorandum demanding that unemployed nurses be employed by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health. Nurses from the Health and Other Service Personnel Trade Union of South Africa (HOSPERSA) were part of the march.

The marchers said there were 15,000 unemployed nurses in KZN and 40,000 vacancies for nurses nationwide, according to a “study”.

But when GroundUp asked the provincial chairperson of HOSPERSA, Thamsanqa Zondi, the source of these figures, he said the figures were estimates and should not be used by the media. He said the union did not have a copy of the study.

Last year nurses marched three times demanding that the health department prioritise their demands.

United Nurses Forum president Bhekithemba Gumbi said nothing had changed. Quoting
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Shocking! Almost 200 posts for doctors and specialists remain unfilled at Gauteng’s four academic hospitals — and many of these posts are likely to remain empty, the health department says

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Gauteng hospitals can only fill half of its critical medical staff vacancies — positions that normally go to doctors, specialists and nurses, Gauteng health department deputy director general for clinical services Richard Lebethe says. Hospitals were first informed about this via an April circular sent to hospitals.

The head of psychiatry at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, Wendy Friedlander, says medical officers are feeling the strain of almost 80 vacant posts.

“Doctors [now] have a much greater doctor to patient ratio. If you have more patients, what you can give in terms of time, facilities and resources to each patient is much less”, she explains. “Every patient is getting less care than they should be getting, less care than what they are entitled to.”

Friedlander stresses: “The quality of care has plummeted.”

The psychiatrist is part of a committee of hospital doctors who have asked the provincial health
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Nurses allegedly ‘ignored’ pleas for help as mom cradled dead infant after suffering a miscarriage, while nurses pay no attention to her and ate their cereal at Groote Schuur Hospital

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The Western Government Health Department will be investigating a young mother’s claims that she nearly bled to death after suffering a miscarriage, while nurses ignored her and ate their cereal at Groote Schuur Hospital.

The woman says she lay for seven hours in a heap of blood clots “the size of her fists”, while the dead baby lay between her legs.

Saadijah Samuels Abrahams, 28, of Bridgetown says nurses ignored her desperate cries for help and, afterwards, a cleaner dumped the foetus in a bin.

“I wrapped the baby inside tissue paper and left it at my bedside and when I came back, the nurse said she didn’t know what happened,” she says.

“When my husband was finally allowed inside the ward, he put on gloves and found the baby inside the bin. Can you imagine that? To find your baby inside a bin?”

Saadijah was 14 weeks pregnant with her second child and says she was excited to be giving birth in July.

However,
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Grandson laments treatment at PE hospital – ‘Not one nurse to help him’

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Life St George’s Hospital in Port Elizabeth has launched an internal investigation after the grandson of one of its patients posted photos of his grandfather soaked in urine and blood with “not one nurse to help him”.

This was despite the hospital knowing the elderly man needed 24-hour care for which he was signed up for, Jason Gordon wrote in a Facebook post on Tuesday.

His grandfather was blind and suffered from dementia.

“This is not the first time I have visited him after work to find something wrong. The first time they had inserted his drip incorrectly. It took more than 3 days for the swelling to go down,” Gordon wrote.

“This is not the kind of care I would expect when you pay so much for medical aid; this kind of thing should not be acceptable in any state or private hospital. You would expect people in the medical profession to be compassionate and want to make sure their patients are comfortab
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A tech company, Proteus, just launched a ‘smart’ cancer pills that track you with tiny sensors stamped into your medications

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A US digital medicine company called Proteus makes ‘smart pills’ embedded with sensors that tell your doctor when you’ve taken your medication. The pills also track activity levels.

Backed by big name investors like Novartis, Proteus debuted the first medication made with the technology – a form of the depression and schizophrenia drug Abilify – in 2017.

Now, Proteus is expanding into cancer.

Still, the research on whether the pills actually help patients take their medications when they should remains somewhat unclear.

Would a notification from your doctor as soon as you forget to take your medication help keep you on track?

A digital medicine company called Proteus is betting the answer is yes.

The Silicon Valley-based company makes what have been called “smart pills”: essentially, versions of regular medications embedded with a tiny sensor that can be tracked by a patch worn on a
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Let’s have a look at why doctors and nurses are facing unemployment

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It’s the age of austerity and it’s bad news for doctors, nurses and patients alike — unless the state can do more with less.

Almost 200 posts for doctors and specialists remain unfilled at Gauteng’s four academic hospitals — and many of these posts are likely to remain empty, the health department says.

Gauteng hospitals can only fill half of its critical medical staff vacancies — positions that normally go to doctors, specialists and nurses, Gauteng health department deputy director general for clinical services Richard Lebethe says.

Hospitals were first informed about this via an April circular sent to hospitals.

The head of psychiatry at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, Wendy Friedlander, says medical officers are feeling the strain of almost 80 vacant posts.

“Doctors [now] have a much greater doctor to patient ratio. If you have more patients, what you can give in terms of time, facilities and resources
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Some researchers discover the brain cells that make pain unpleasant

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If you step on a tack, neurons in your brain will register two things: that there’s a piercing physical sensation in your foot, and that it’s not pleasant. Now, a team of scientists at Stanford University has identified a bundle of brain cells in mice responsible for the latter – that is, the negative emotions of pain.

Pain research has traditionally focused on the neurons and molecules at the frontline of pain perception — the cells in nerves that process stings, cuts, burns and the like — and ultimately convey a physical threat message. What Dr Grégory Scherrer, assistant professor of anesthesiology and of neurosurgery, and Dr Mark Schnitzer, associate professor of biology and of applied physics, are studying goes one step further. “We’re looking at what the brain makes of that information,” Scherrer said. “While painful stimuli are detected by nerves, this information doesn’t mean anything emotionally until it reaches t
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There are so many complex reasons for South Africa’s organ donor shortage

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At any given time, there are around 4,300 people waiting for organ donations in South Africa. These patients usually need new livers, kidneys, lungs or hearts. But organ donors are in very short supply.

This isn’t unique to South Africa. Many countries around the world are unable to meet the demand for donor organs. There are a few exceptions, though. One example is Norway, where a surplus of deceased donor livers has been reported.

So what explains South Africa’s organ donor shortage?

Religious and cultural beliefs play a role, because they influence the decisions people make about the remains of their loved ones. Sometimes families prefer that a relative’s body remain whole and intact; in other cases it’s considered important to bury a person within a certain time frame. But attributing the shortages to these factors alone grossly oversimplifies the issue, as research has shown.

There are many complex elements
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South Africa needs stronger leadership and increased budgets in mental healthcare

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The psychiatric profession should play a greater role in advocating for patients’ rights and improving management of mental health in the public sector after a series of recent tragedies that highlighted the neglect of mental healthcare in South Africa.

Professor Bonga Chiliza, incoming South African Society of Psychiatrists (Sasop) president, says the deaths of 144 patients in the now-notorious Life Esidimeni tragedy; allegations of abuse and human rights violations at the Tower Psychiatric Hospital in the Eastern Cape; and the suicide of UCT Health Sciences Dean Prof Bongani Mayosi following his battle with depression all point to need for better management of public sector psychiatry

Therefore, the organisation will ramp up its lobbying for mental healthcare to be allocated an equitable share of the national health budget. Chiliza says Sasop would also be doing more to encourage medical students to specialise in psychiatry, in order to grow th
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New portable technology takes primary healthcare to the people

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Portable medical technology makes it possible to take primary healthcare to low-income populations that frequently have a disproportionate burden of ill health.

It allows mobile clinics and screening days to take healthcare services to schools and local communities that would ordinarily not have access.

Instead of expecting patients to travel to static clinics, they can be screened and diagnosed on the spot and receive preventive healthcare where they are, rather than incurring travel costs or having to take time off work. ”The South African medical environment is still in the early stages of adopting mobile solutions to preventive screening and healthcare.

“Screening for common health issues like loss of hearing or vision helps to avoid a heavier cost burden on constrained healthcare resources once the diagnosed conditions worsen,” says Dr Dirk Koekemoer, founder and CEO of eMoyo. “But this approach, when effectively managed th
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