Anso Thom: Health-e News Service and Sapa

Incubated baby in the maternity ward at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, which doctors say is in crisis.Photo: Paballo Thekiso

Several newborn babies have died while others have been left brain damaged at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital’s labour ward because of a staffing crisis, according to doctors.

At least two of the deaths were described as avoidable stillbirths.

Sapa

A judge has been appointed in KwaZulu-Natal to find out why the province closed five national health laboratories, the provincial health department said on Tuesday.

Judge SJ Ngwenya will arbitrate in the conflict between the KZN health department and the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS).

Nashira Davids & Philani Nombembe: The Times

LABORATORIES should not be closed down under any circumstances because the service they provide is essential, according to Minister of Health Aaron Motsoaledi. He was responding to the closure of 10 laboratories by the National Health Laboratory Service because of dire financial constraints. The service is the largest diagnostic pathology service in South Africa and supports national and provincial health departments.

Subashni Naidoo: The Sunday Times

THE Health Professions' Council of South Africa has launched an investigation to verify the qualifications of more than 4 500 medical professionals working in government hospitals. The joint operation by the medical regulatory body, the Department of Health and the police, is believed to be one of the biggest audits ever undertaken in the medical profession. An inquiry by the council last year uncovered that 1 053 personnel, from paramedics to ambulance basic assistants, had fraudulent qualifications.

Laura du Preez: Personal Finance

A CODE of conduct for prescribed minimum benefits (PMBs) is the cause of a least one scheme changing its stance on paying for a costly cancer treatment in full. A pensioner member of Liberty Medical Scheme suffering from chronic myeloid leukaemia was recently shocked to find the scheme had decided to impose a 10-percent co-payment on the Gleevec she is taking for the illness.

Tony Carnie: INLSA

The eThekwini municipality has come under fire for failing to trace the source of a large stream of dark liquid which stained the sea next to the Bluff to such an extent that it was visible from the sky.

Responding to queries from The Mercury, a spokesman for the municipality’s pollution department said that water samples collected from the mouth of the Umlaas canal on January 27 did not appear to be toxic, and that the source of the pollution could not be found.

Londiwe Buthelezi

HIGH medical inflation and regulated contribution increases are affecting the solvency levels of medical schemes. The overall solvency ratio of all registered schemes fell to 30.3 percent in September from the audited solvency level of 31.6 percent at the end of 2010, the quarterly report of the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) showed.

Ben Hirschler: Reuters via Business Report

ASTRAZENECA is cutting a further 7 300 jobs and expects earnings to fall by between 14 percent and 18 percent this year as key drug patents expire and governments in the US and Europe squeeze prices. The latest phase of cuts, equivalent to 12 percent of the workforce, would deliver an extra $1.6 billion (R12.4bn) in annual benefits by the end of 2014, Britain’s second-biggest drug maker said. It would cost $2.1bn to implement.

SAPA

TUBERCULOSIS (TB) is the number one killer of the black population in South Africa, according to the SA Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR). Spokeswoman Lerato Moloi said the population group was also most affected by flu, pneumonia and intestinal infectious diseases such as cholera. She said coloured people died predominantly of TB, followed by diabetes and chronic lower respiratory diseases.