News
Debt to medical industry increased to R1.4bn
03 Jun 2025
The stability of SA’s healthcare supply chain is under strain as provincial health departments, the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) and the SA Military Health Service collectively owe over R1.4bn to medical suppliers. - Business Day (3 June 2025)
[READ MORE]
Gauteng Surgical Backlog Leaves Cancer Patient in Limbo
03 Jun 2025
Gauteng Health MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko confirmed that 34,528 patients are currently on surgical waiting lists across 17 government hospitals. – Citizen (3 June 2025)
[READ MORE]
Immunotherapy Offers New Hope Against Early-Stage Cancers
02 Jun 2025
Bloomberg (1 June 2025) reported that drugs such as Bristol Myers Squibb's Opdivo, AstraZeneca's Imfinzi, and Roche's Tecentriq show significant promise in preventing recurrence and improving long-term survival in operable tumours. These drugs were previously used as life-extending treatments for advanced diseases.
[READ MORE]
Dis-Chem Ramps Up Rewards & Store Expansion
02 Jun 2025
Dis-Chem announced a major revamping of its rewards programme to regain lost market share in key categories. – Business Times (1 June 2025)
[READ MORE]
US New Medicine Prices More Than Double Since 2021
28 May 2025
US New Medicine Prices More Than Double Since 2021
[READ MORE]
Liberty Pays Out R12 bn in claims in 2024
28 May 2025
Liberty Life reported that the insurer paid out R12bn in death, disability, and income protection claims to over 120,000 beneficiaries throughout 2024. - Business Day (28 May2025).
“The bulk of the payouts, R7.35bn, stemmed from Liberty’s retail division, which provides policies directly to individuals, representing an 11.8% increase compared with the previous year, reaching almost 28,900 individuals and their families.
[READ MORE]
Treatment Gap for SA’s Children
27 May 2025
One in three of the 157,000 children living with HIV in SA are not accessing the antiretroviral therapy (ART) they desperately need to maintain their health according to data released by Thembisa, the leading mathematical model of HIV. – Spotlight (27 May 2025)
[READ MORE]
Reminder from KeyHealth Medical Scheme regarding Stale Claim Process
27 May 2025
All claims must be submitted within 120 days (4 months) from the date the service was rendered. Claims received after this period are considered stale and may be rejected.
If a claim is repudiated (not paid), you have 60 days from the date of the statement to resubmit it with the necessary corrections or supporting documents.
Contact your software vendor to enable submission of claims via EDI.
[READ MORE]
Life Healthcare backs collaboration to tackle healthcare crisis
27 Nov 2024
Life Healthcare CEO Peter Wharton-Hood has backed a call for greater collaboration between the government and private healthcare providers to address South Africa’s pressing healthcare challenges. This follows a proposal by Netcare CEO Richard Friedland, who suggested adding healthcare as the fourth pillar in an existing government-business partnership focused on revitalising the economy.
[READ MORE]
Discovery Life claims back to pre-Covid levels
19 Apr 2024
“Discovery Life distributed R10.3bn to its clients, a decrease from the R11bn paid the previous year,” reported Business Day (19April 2024)
[READ MORE]
Hundreds of websites found selling fake weight-loss drugs
16 Apr 2024
Reuters reported on 15 April that the cybersecurity company BrandShield has shut down over 250 websites selling counterfeit versions of popular drugs used for weight loss and diabetes treatment within the GLP-1 class.
[READ MORE]
RAF bid to appeal judgment on claim requirements
06 Dec 2023
On 5 December 2023 the Pretoria High Court rejected the Road Accident Fund’s (RAF) request to reconsider a previous verdict from November, reported Business Day.
“The ruling mandated eliminating the stringent new requirements for filing claims outlined in a 2021 board notice.”
[READ MORE]
Covid-19 vaccines: ‘Health Department squandered the opportunity’
07 Sep 2023
“Health activists are right to draw attention to this grossly unfair situation. (Covid-19 vaccine deals) But the far bigger scandal is that the Health Department squandered the opportunity after spending an estimated R14-bn on Covid-19 jabs and belatedly filling its warehouses with enough doses to vaccinate the nation” – Business Day (7 September 2023).
[READ MORE]
EDITORIAL: Health Minister must halt care crisis
20 Jan 2023
NHI, the government’s plan for universal health coverage, rests heavily on nurse-led care. Yet where these nurses will come from is a mystery. – Editorial (
Business Day 20 January 2023).
[READ MORE]
Study raises concerns about quality of hospital meals
12 Jan 2023
According to a study of meals served at Cape Town hospitals the food served to hospital patients are way below the health department “ration scale” and patients’ energy requirements, reported
Financial Mail (12 January 2023).
[READ MORE]