17 September 2007
In hierdie uitgawe / In this issue:
Fakulteit Gesondheidswetenskappe / Faculty of Health Sciences
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Evidence for a reconsideration – Mail & Guardian
Can a pill prevent PTSD - Cosmopolitan
Anxiety, depression, health attitudes and coping strategies in doctors and teachers in a Cape
Town setting - SAJP
Longer duration of breastfeeding associated with reduced risk of developing schizophrenia SAJP
Primary Prevention of Atherosclerotic Vascular Disease - SA Pharmaceutical Journal
Transplantation in the Lymphomas - The Specialist Forum
New concepts of burn wound healing using Biobrane and Platelet-rich Plasma - The Specialist
Forum
H-Haemolysis - The Specialist Forum
Té veel rekenaarure lei tot allerlei pyne – Tygerburger
Babies get HIV in SA hospital - Cape Times; The Star
Mediese Navorsing/ Medical Research
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Vitamin D vital in fight against cancer – study - Cape Times
Birth control pill may cut cancer risk – study - Cape Times
Algemeen / General
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Hoesstroop ná byna halfeeu dringend onttrek – Die Burger; Cape Argus
Aptekers weet nie van gevaar – Die Burger
Uitsonderlike geriewe vir UK – Die Burger
Hospitale se beddens erg gesny – Die Burger
'If Aids death toll had been from military attack, SA would have mobilised'- Cape Times
Women 'are dying in the queue for cervical cancer tests' - Cape Argus
UCT research centre a first for Africa - Cape Argus
Doctors lose bed battle - Cape Argus
Nurses to get up to 88% pay rises - Cape Argus
1
Fakulteit Gesondheidswetenskappe /
Faculty of Health Sciences
Die Inetkey moet oop wees om dié lêers te kan oopmaak. / The Inetkey should be open for access to these files.
Evidence for a reconsideration
Mail & Guardian Sub: Higher Learning; 14 September 2007
Mail & Guardian
Sub: Higher Learning
2007/09/14
Evidence for a reconsideration
5 Jimmy Volmink
click here
Can a pill prevent PTSD
Cosmopolitan; 1 September 2007
2007/09/01
Cosmopolitan
CAN A PILL PREVENT PTSD?
82-83
UNKNOWN
click here
Anxiety, depression, health attitudes and coping strategies in doctors and
teachers in a Cape Town setting
SAJP; 1 June 2007
2007/06/01 SAJP
Anxiety, depression, health attitudes and coping strategies in doctors and
teachers in a Cape Town setting
4651
Unknown
click
here
Longer duration of breastfeeding associated with reduced risk of developing
schizophrenia
SAJP; 1 June 2007
2007/06/01 SAJP
Longer duration of breastfeeding associated with reduced risk of developing 60schizophrenia
64
Unknown
click
here
Unknown
click
here
Primary Prevention of Atherosclerotic Vascular Disease
SA Pharmaceutical Journal; 1 August 2007
2007/08/01
SA Pharmaceutical
Journal
Primary Prevention of ATHEROSCLEROTIC VASCULAR 12DISEASE
17
Transplantation in the Lymphomas
The Specialist Forum; 1 August 2007
2007/08/01
The Specialist Forum
Transplantation in the Lymphomas
14-30
Unknown
click here
New concepts of burn wound healing using Biobrane and Platelet-rich Plasma
The Specialist Forum; 1 August 2007
2007/08/01
The Specialist
Forum
New concepts of burn wound healing using Biobrane and
Platelet-rich Plasma
40;4243
Unknown
click
here
H-Haemolysis
The Specialist Forum; 1 August 2007
2007/08/01
The Specialist Forum
H - Haemolysis
67-68;70-71
Unknown
click here
Terug / Back
2
Té veel rekenaarure lei tot allerlei pyne
Petro Bosman
Tygerburger; 12 September 2007
KINDERS wat meer as sewe uur per week rekenaars gebruik het, was meer geneig om laerugpyn,
nekpyn en algemene gewrigs- en spierpyn te rapporteer as kinders wat nie dieselfde tyd voor die
rekenaar gesit het nie, is in ’n studie gevind. Me. Leone Smith, junior lektor by die departement
fisioterapie aan die Universiteit Stellenbosch se Tygerberg-kampus, het onlangs die bevindinge van
dié studie vir haar meestersgraad by die fakulteit gesondheidswetenskappe se akademiese jaardag
voorgedra. Haar tema was: Computer-related musculoskeletal dysfunction among adolescent school
learners in the Cape Metropolitan Region en sy het boonop ’n trofee vir die beste jong navorser (onder
35 jaar) hiervoor ontvang. Maar dié beskeie inwoner van Parow-Noord, wat in ortopedie en
ergonomika spesialiseer, sê dié eer kom nie net haarself toe nie, maar ook die talle
ondersteuningsbronne sonder wie die werk nie moontlik sou wees nie.
Smith sê sy het voorheen in ’n privaatpraktyk gewerk en het heelwat kinders van sowat 14-17 jaar in
dié tyd gesien wat gekla het van laerugpyn, nek- en skouerpyne. Sy het begin wonder hoekom, of
daar dalk ’n verband tussen gewrigspyne en verlengde rekenaargebruik kan wees, en gedink dit kan
’n interessante onderwerp vir haar meestersgraad wees. “Toe ek begin navorsing doen, was daar nog
nie nasionaal enige studies hieroor gedoen nie, maar internasionaal, veral in Amerika, Australië,
Engeland, Kanada, Nederland en Skotland is daar al baie navorsing in dié verband gedoen,” vertel sy.
Haar studie, wat in 2005 amptelik begin het, was deel van ’n groter projek, naamlik die Spinal Health
Research Project gelei deur prof. Quinette Louw, ook by die departement fisioterapie, en gefinansier
deur die Mediese Navorsingsraad van Suid-Afrika, sê Smith. “Ons het 1 073 14-18-jariges van skole
oor die hele Kaapse metropool met vraelyste genader – van Macassar tot Simonstad, as ’t ware.
“Hiervan was sowat 600 meisies en 300 seuns, en ons het gevind seuns is steeds meer geneig om
rekenaarvakke as meisies te neem, wat internasionale bevindinge ook steun. Seuns in die studie het
ook gemiddeld 12 uur per week teenoor meisies se 9 uur per week agter die rekenaar deurgebring.
Die kinders kon die vraelyste in privaatheid tydens skoolure voltooi, maar ons was ook daar indien
hulle vrae gehad het.”
Agt skole het deelgeneem aan die vraelys-voltooiing en ’n verdere agt se werkstasies is geëvalueer.
Sestien skole is dus geëvalueer, en Smith het gekyk na skole wat rekenaarlaboratoriums het waar
leerders vakke soos rekenaartik of -studies, of Cat (Computer Application Technology) neem. “Ons het
die hoeveelheid kinders wat elke dag rekenaars by die skool gebruik genader en in ’n rekenaargroep
verdeel, asook die ‘nie-rekenaargroep’ wat nie sulke vakke geneem het nie, maar die skoolrekenaar
vir minstens drie keer ’n week vir take gebruik het asook soms tuis, by biblioteke, vriende of
internetkafees. Dié ‘nie-rekenaargroep’ het egter die helfte minder soveel ure by rekenaars
deurgebring as die groep wat daagliks by die skool daarmee te doen gehad het.”
“Van die totale leerdergroep (1 007) leerders wat daagliks rekenaars by die skool gebruik het, het
sowat 74% (750) die vorige maand spier- of gewrigsongemak of naalde-en-speldepyn in ’n spesifieke
liggaamsarea ervaar. Hulle kon op ’n liggaamskaart die areas aandui,” sê Smith. Met alles in die lewe
is matigheid belangrik, en hulle het gevind dat kinders wat meer as sewe uur per week by rekenaars
sit, meer geneig is om laerugpyn, nekpyn en gewrigs- en spierpyn te rapporteer,” sê Smith.
Hulle het die kinders wat pyn ervaar het, ook gevra of hulle mediese advies gaan soek het. Net 14%
(minder as 100) het gesê hulle het wél dokter of fisioterapeut toe gegaan, sê Smith. “Hier wil ons tog
’n beroep doen op ouers om te onthou dat herhaalde klagtes oor dieselfde pyn op dieselfde plekke nie
altyd nét klagtes van tieners is nie. Dit kan wél gewrigs- of spierverwant wees en vereis professionele
aandag. Die gevaar is indien sulke probleme nie gou aangespreek word nie, kan die toestand by
kinders as hulle volwassenes is, vererger en chronies word.” Ná die tyd het sy teruggegaan na die
onderskeie skole met die resultate, sê Smith. “Die probleme is geïdentifiseer, nou bestaan die
uitdaging om gewoontes te verander, om kinders en onderwysers op te voed oor rekenaargebruik.
Ons het baie goeie ondersteuning van die Wes-Kaapse onderwysdepartement en -skole gekry en ook
van die Khanya-projek, wat rekenaars aan skole verskaf.
3
Het sy enige wenke vir ons ouers? ’n Laerskool- én hoërskoolkind behoort ná elke 20 of 30 minute by
’n rekenaar ’n ander aktiwiteit te doen, sê Smith. “Al is dit net opstaan en die skouers beweeg. Jy moet
jou aktiwiteite dus varieer. Hóé ’n kind voor die rekenaar sit, is ook belangrik. Dikwels word erkstasies
by die huis vir ouers opgestel en dan moet kinders daarby aanpas. Die rekenaarskerm moet ook altyd
ooghoogte of laer wees, jy moenie opkyk na die skerm nie.”
Terug / Back
Babies get HIV in SA hospital
Cape Times; 17 September 2007
(Also published in The Star)
Karyn Maughan
VIOLET was forced to turn her five-month-old son's life support system off a week after she was told
that he was HIV-positive - but no one has ever been able to tell the HIV-negative mother why. Now,
following research showing that at least 42 babies and children are suspected to have been
accidentally infected with HIV in state hospitals, doctors are pointing the finger at the continued
"largely inadequate infection control" that they believe is behind these unexplained infections and the
four deaths that followed them.
In addition, at least six families from Cape Town (where 70% of the unexplained HIV cases have been
found), Gauteng and Port Elizabeth are taking or considering legal action against the state for what
they describe as the total violation of the "duty of care" government hospitals owed their children.
Research conducted by a group of Western Cape scientists and doctors and subsequent
investigations by the Human Sciences Research Council and Treatment Action Campaign has painted
a disturbing picture of HIV-infected expressed breast milk being given to premature babies, the re-use
of dirty syringes and poor sterilisation of medical equipment in state hospitals.
In one case, five babies from a Western Cape hospital were infected with HIV after they were
apparently given formula mixed with expressed breast milk from an HIV-positive woman. One of the
infants later died. But, despite the growing numbers of suspected "nosocomial" (hospital-based) HIVinfections being identified, the state has yet to support the establishment of a register of these cases effectively tying the hands of the doctors and scientists who want to track the source of unexplained
HIV infections. The National Health Department has yet to respond to e-mail queries, sent on
Thursday last week, about the tracking of such cases.
Earlier this year, however, Western Cape health authorities reached an undisclosed out-of-court
settlement with an HIV-negative Muslim couple whose baby daughter was believed to have been
given infected breast milk while at the Mowbray Maternity Hospital or Red Cross Children's Hospital.
According to the TAC's research, this case "made it clear that HIV is indeed being transferred in
hospital settings as a result of inadequate management and handling protocols". Dr Shaheen Mehtar,
an infection prevention and control expert, who helped investigate the case in which six Bulgarian
medics were later found guilty by a Libyan court of infecting 400 children with HIV, believes the
suspected accidental HIV infections that have been reported from local state hospitals are only "the tip
of the iceberg".
"I'm sure it's happening all over the place … but even if it was only one case, it would be
unacceptable. How dare you, as a hospital, give someone else's child HIV?" Mehtar's belief that
suspected nosocomial HIV-infections are the tragic result of patchy infection control measures is
echoed by the TAC's research into such cases. "The data obtained in this study … casts an even
larger suspicion upon the state of infection control generally in the South African public health sector,"
the report concluded. So why has it taken so long for parents to take legal action over their children's
unexplained HIV infections?
Red Cross Children's Hospital's Dr Brian Eley, who pioneered the first studies into the suspected
accidental HIV infection of babies and children with Stellenbosch University Professor Mark Cotton,
believes many of the parents of such children were often too afraid of the stigma around HIV to take
legal action. "They are very angry about what has happened … but they're also embarrassed by what
other people will say," he said, after revealing that, since 2004 research found 14 unexplained HIV
cases, Red Cross had treated another seven cases. Violet confirmed Eley's opinion when the Cape
Times spoke to her this weekend about her son's untimely death.
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"I was afraid to speak about what happened. I was scared people who look at me and think I was the
one who did this to my child." Like many of the other HIV-infected babies whose parents were shown
to be negative, Violet's baby was born premature, at 33 weeks, and was repeatedly fed with
expressed breast milk. It was not long before his health problems started to show. "His head was
bigger than his body, he never had any baby fat and you could see his little ribs through his skin, but
every day I would go to Tygerberg Hospital and sit with him and would tell myself, 'he's going to make
it, he's going to make it.'
"A week before he died, one of the doctors came to me and asked me if they can do an HIV-test on
my baby and I said okay. The next day they told me that the test is positive and I must also go for a
test. But I was negative." Seven days later, Violet was asked to make a terrible decision. "The
doctors told me there is nothing more they can do for him and he will probably not live past midnight.
So we decided to switch the machines off at six that night. I did not want my baby to suffer. "My
husband went crazy …he wasn't with the baby like I was because he had to work, and so he didn't see
how he got sicker and sicker. He never expected this to happen ...
"The doctors asked me if I wanted counselling, but I was so hurt inside, I was cross with everybody …
no one could tell me why my baby was gone."
karyn.maughan@inl.co.za
Terug / Back
Mediese Navorsing/ Medical Research
Vitamin D vital in fight against cancer - study
Cape Times; 11 September 2007
LONDON: People who take regular doses of vitamin D have a significantly lower risk of dying early
than those who do not, according to new research published yesterday. Previous studies have
suggested vitamin D deficiency increases the risk of cancer, heart disease or diabetes, but the new
findings indicate the vitamin provides an even bigger bang, said the study in the Archives of Internal
Medicine. "Intake of ordinary doses of vitamin D supplements seems to be associated with decreases
in total mortality rates," said Philippe Autier of the International Agency for Cancer Research in France
and Sara Gandini of the European Institute of Oncology in Milan.
The reasons why were not clear but the researchers suggested the vitamin might block cancer cells
from spreading or boost the immune system. The researchers drew their conclusions from a review of
18 separate trials involving nearly 60 000 patients. The doses averaged 528 international units, within
the range of most commercially available vitamin D supplements. They found nearly 5 000 of the
participants in the studies died over an average follow-up period of 5.7 years, with the data showing
that those who took vitamin D supplements had a 7% lower risk of death.
The team did not consider the specific causes of death in the studies, which included mostly healthy
middle-aged or elderly people. They said further investigation was needed to find those kinds of
answers. Vitamin D is important for both healthy teeth and bones as well as nerve cells and seems to
act as an important regulator of the immune system. Few foods are naturally rich in vitamin D, known
as the "sunshine" vitamin because the body produces it during exposure to sunlight. One US
researcher called the results of the latest analysis "remarkable" and said they served as a reminder for
doctors to make sure they were prescribing adequate doses of vitamin D to patients who needed it. –
Reuters
Terug / Back
Birth control pill may cut cancer risk - study
Cape Times; 12 September 2007
PARIS: The Pill does not boost a woman's risk of developing cancer and, for a majority of women,
may even reduce that hazard, according to a long-term study published online. The research,
published by the British Medical Journal, was based on a study launched among 46 000 British
women who had an average age of 29 when the survey began in 1968. Over the 36 years of the
5
study, many women dropped out, so the investigators used two additional datasets to get a
comparative view of the cancer risk.
The authors, from the University of Aberdeen, say they found no overall increased risk of cancer
among Pill users and indeed there was a reduced risk of three to 12%, depending on which data batch
was examined. They found, though, that among women who had used the Pill for more than eight
years, there was a statistically significant increased risk of cancer of the cervix and central nervous
system.
But the same women benefited from a reduced risk of developing ovarian cancer. "Oral contraception
was not associated with an overall increased risk of cancer; indeed it may even produce a net public
health gain," says the paper. In 2005, an Australian-authored study of women in Australia, the United
States and Canada found that young women with a genetic mutation placing them at high risk of
breast cancer were substantially able to reduce their risk of developing the disease if they took oral
contraceptives. - Sapa-AFP
Terug / Back
Algemeen / General
Hoesstroop ná byna halfeeu dringend onttrek
Die Burger; 12 September
(Soortgelyke artikel ook in Cape Argus)
’n Hoesstroop wat al byna ’n halfeeu op KAAPSTAD. – Suid-Afrikaanse rakke is, word nou dringend
aan die mark onttrek omdat dit ’n gesondheidsrisiko vir pasiënte inhou. Daar is wêreldwyd al 200
miljoen dosisse van dié hoesstroop, Silomat Linctus DA, sedert 1961 verkoop.
Mnr. Dirk van Niekerk, bemarkingsdirekteur van Boeringher Ingelheim SA, die verspreider, het gesê in
’n onlangse studie is bevind die hoesstroop kan ongereelde hartritme of hart-aritmie veroorsaak.
Die aktiewe bestanddeel, klobutinol, is glo verantwoordelik hiervoor. Luidens ’n verklaring op hul
webwerf kan die risiko vir hart-aritmie baie laag wees.
Die studie, wat in Duitsland gedoen is, het 46 pasiënte ingesluit en drie van die pasiënte het
abnormale hartritme ondervind. “In die 46 jaar wat die produk op die mark is, het ons geen spontane
klagtes van die publiek ontvang nie,” het Van Niekerk gesê. Alle voorraad is by groothandelaars
onttrek en waarskuwings is aan apteke en dokters gestuur.
Pasiënte word aangeraai om die gebruik van die hoesstroop te staak. Oorblywende hoesstroop kan
na enige apteek teruggeneem word. – Diana-Marié Strydom
Terug / Back
Aptekers weet nie van gevaar
Die Burger, 13 September 2007
2007/09/13
Die Burger
Aptekers `weet nie van gevaar`
6 DIANA-MARIÉ STRYDOM
click here
Terug / Back
Uitsonderlike geriewe vir UK
Mbeki vestig hoop op wetenskap
Die Burger; 11 September 2007
Elsabé Brits
KAAPSTAD. – Suid-Afrika het gister die eerste land in Afrika en slegs die derde land ter wêreld
geword wat kan spog met top-navorsingslaboratoriums van die Internasionale Sentrum vir Genetiese
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Ingenieurswese en Biotegnologie (ICGEB). Daar bestaan net twee ander sulke sentrums ter wêreld,
een in Triëst, Italië, en die ander in Nieu-Delhi, Indië. Die Instituut vir Aansteeklike Siektes en
Molekulêre Medisyne (IIDMM) van die Universiteit van Kaapstad (UK) huisves die drie unieke
internasionale navorsingslaboratoriums – wat hulle in die toekoms na tien laboratoriums wil
vermeerder.
Die aanvanklike fokus van die sentrum sal op siektes in die ontwikkelende wêreld, soos MIV/vigs,
tuberkulose, hepatitis, en verskeie kankers en hartsiektes, wees. Daar sal ook navorsing oor plantbiotegnologie gedoen word in ’n poging om stapelvoedselsoorte te verbeter. Pres. Thabo Mbeki het
gister die sentrum geopen. Hy het gesê die bekendmaking van die menslike genoom het begin om
“ons begrip van ons menslike oorsprong, migrasie en ontwikkeling te verander”. Hy het verwys na die
Menslike Genoomprojek en gesê dit leer “ons meer oor die evolusie van die mensdom”, asook hoe
siektes ontwikkel en hoe ons dit kan voorkom. “Dit sal ons wetenskaplike horisonne, en . . . die etiese
en wetlike raamwerk waarin ons werk, verander.”
Mbeki het gesê aansienlike wetenskaplike vordering is nodig in die stryd teen malaria, tuberkulose,
MIV/vigs en ander ernstige siektes, wat ongelukkig baie min aandag geniet. Vordering danksy kennis
wat voortspruit uit die Menslike Genoom-projek sal ’n groot invloed hê op Afrika se mense. Hy hoop
die ICGEB sal ’n groot rol speel om die “brain drain” uit Afrika om te swaai na ’n “brain gain” vir die
kontinent, het hy gesê. Omdat plantbiotegnologie so ’n groot rol speel, kan navorsing ook help met
probleme van hongersnood en wanvoeding.
Tegnologie se sentrale rol in ekonomiese ontwikkeling word internasionaal toenemend erken. Daar is
geen twyfel nie dat wetenskaplike kennis en innovering die begin kan wees van Afrika se
ontwikkelingsproses en kan verseker dat ons die Millenium-ontwikkelingdoelwitte bereik, het Mbeki
gesê. Mnr. Mosibudi Mangena, minister van wetenskap en tegnologie, het gesê van die R40 miljoen
wat vir die projek geoormerk is, is R10 miljoen reeds beskikbaar gestel.
Terug / Back
Hospitale se beddens erg gesny
Die Burger; 15 September 2007
KAAPSTAD. – Die vermindering van die aantal beddens by twee van die provinsie se grootste
akademiese hospitale is net die begin van ’n ernstige besnoeiing van uitgawes. Die rieme gaan nóg
dunner gesny moet word by die Groote Schuur, Rooi Kruis-kinder- en die Tygerberg-hospitale, omdat
hulle op ’n begrotingsoorskryding van R69 miljoen afstuur.
Die vermindering van 30 beddens by Tygerberg en 60 by Groote Schuur beteken ’n besnoeiing van
R30 miljoen. “Dit behoort te help om die begrotingsoorskryding vir die 2007-’08-geldjaar te
verminder. Maar as ons teen November met die aansuiweringsbegroting nie die geld kry wat nodig is
vir dié tersiêre hospitale nie, sal ons verdere besnoeiings moet oorweeg. Dit beteken egter nie
bedbesnoeiings nie,” het mnr. Pierre Uys, provinsiale minister van gesondheid, gesê.
“As ons voortgaan soos ons nou doen by dié hospitale, gaan ons die begroting oorskry. Dié hospitale
sal net meer koste-effektief moet wees. Elke afdeling sal alles wat hulle doen, moet heroorweeg en
besluit of dit werklik nodig is.” Maandag word met die vermindering van 60 beddens by Groote Schuur
begin. By die Tygerberg-hospitaal is 15 reeds verminder, met ’n verdere 15 wat mettertyd verminder
sal word. Prof. Del Kahn, die hoof van chirurgie van die Groote Schuur-hospitaal, het gesê die skielike
bedverminderings is onsensitief in ag genome die geweldige druk waaronder dié hospitaal reeds
verkeer. “Met voorkeur wat aan noodgevalle-pasiënte gegee moet word, beteken die edverminderings
dat pasiënte wat operasies moet ondergaan, nóg langer sal moet wag.”
Luidens ’n onlangse verslag deur die fakulteit gesondheidswetenskappe van die Universiteit van
Kaapstad lei die langer wagtye vir operasies by tersiêre hospitale reeds tot ’n toename in sterftes
onder kankerpasiënte. “Tans sit en wag pasiënte wat geopereer moet word by Groote Schuur van
08:00 tot 18:00 vir ’n bed om beskikbaar te raak. (Nou) sal verskeie operasies uitgestel of
gekanselleer moet word,” het Kahn gesê. Hy het gesê vir kankerpasiënte beteken die langer wagtye
dat die kanker in ’n meer gevorderde stadium sal wees, wat ’n uitwerking op die uitkoms van
behandeling sal hê.
7
Verskeie sale, waaronder die saal waar pasiënte met long- en hartprobleme behandel word, is by
Groote Schuur gesluit. F
Terug / Back
'If Aids death toll had been from military attack, SA would have mobilised'
Cape Tims; 13 September 2007
Boyd Webb
DURBAN: If South Africa's Aids death toll had been the result of a foreign military attack, the
government would have hastily mobilised all its resources to deal with the threat, former deputy
minister of health Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge said yesterday. "In health, as opposed to defence, our
response has been slow off the mark," she said. Madlala-Routledge, who was deputy defence
minister before she was appointed to the health ministry, was addressing delegates attending the
AstraZeneca College of Health Sciences Research Symposium in KwaZulu-Natal. She said the
government needed to step up its efforts to combat HIV/Aids.
"You are all no doubt aware that Aids is killing around 900 people a day in our country," she said.
Madlala-Routledge was fired by President Thabo Mbeki last month after she flew to attend a vaccine
conference in Spain without permission. Political observers pointed out that the outspoken politician
was also seen to be critical of the government during the Frere Hospital saga, and suggested she was
axed as a warning to others who did not toe the party line. At the award ceremony yesterday,
Madlala-Routledge expressed hope that the revamped National Strategic Plan (NSP) for HIV/Aids and
sexually transmitted diseases would start to make a difference.
In May, Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said the NSP would attempt to reduce the rate of
new infections by 50% over the next four DURBANyears and provide support services to at least 80%
of people living with HIV. In an apparent snap at her former boss, Health Minister Manto TshabalalaMsimang, Madlala-Routledge said success would only be achieved if all parties reached consensus
on how to fight the virus. "The key to consensus is listening respectfully to other points of view,
suspending judgment and asking clarification, seeking the strengths and weaknesses in each
position," she said.
Madlala-Routledge called for money to be spent by private and public sector organisations on finding
vaccines not only for HIV and Aids but also tuberculosis, which was also taking its toll.
"The development of new preventive technologies, particularly an effective vaccine, is a matter of
utmost urgency," she said.
Terug / Back
Women 'are dying in the queue for cervical cancer tests'
Cape Argus, 13 September 2007
Di Caelers
The Health Systems Trust is leading an outcry over the country's failure to reach the target of its
cervical cancer screening policy and warns that women are dying unnecessarily. The country, which
has one of the highest rates of cervical cancer, doesn't need a new approach, they say. Rather a
concerted effort should be made to "get the basics right". The policy, introduced in 2000, offers all
women three free cervical smears in their lives, 10 years apart and starting at age 30.
But it is falling short of its goal of reaching 70% of women older than 30 by 2010, with only just more
than 30% of women in the target age group having been screened by last year. Trust chief executive
Dr Lilian Dudley said the largely preventable cancer was the leading cause of death from cancer
among South African women, and that HIV was an added factor. "It is vitally important to integrate
cervical screening into HIV/Aids prevention and care services to ensure that all HIV-positive women
have access to pap smears," she said.
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Professor Lynnette Denny said South Africa had the capacity to deliver an effective screening
programme, but needed to ensure the allocation of sufficient resources, including trained staff and
infrastructure, to make it happen.
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UCT research centre a first for Africa
Cape Argus, 11 September 2007
Education Reporter
President Thabo Mbeki has given local scientists the go-ahead to start developing new drug
treatments and vaccines to combat diseases such as HIV/Aids, TB and malaria. Yesterday Mbeki
launched the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Bio-technology (ICGEB) at UCT
medical campus. The centre is one of three in the world, and the only one in Africa, that will develop
tailor-made research programmes focused on the health needs of the African continent.
The opening of the multi-million-rand centre comes after South Africa won an international bid to host
an ICGEB research laboratory. The main centre has been located in Italy for more than a decade,
while the second is in New Delhi. The Cape Town centre, which will work closely with its counterparts
elsewhere, will focus primarily on HIV/Aids, tuberculosis, malaria and cancer treatments. It will also
seek to strengthening research on staple crop development in Africa. Minister of Science and
Technology Mosibudi Mangena said yesterday: "Hosting an ICGEB component in Africa could provide
a solution for dealing with Africa's infectious disease burden, which kills thousands of people every
day."
Mangena was prompted to put in a bid to host the centre after he visited the Italian ICGEB last year.
He said research could also lead to improving food security on the continent. Mbeki said he was
confident the centre would have a major impact on research in the country and would also contribute
to "reversing the brain drain". The lack of adequately trained biotechnologists, coupled with poor
laboratory resources, were "obstacles" in research activities at universities and other organisations, he
said. "We are confident that significant scientific advances will indeed be made in the fight against
malaria, tuber-culosis, pneumonia, HIV and Aids and other major diseases that most unfortunately
receive too little public attention," Mbeki said.
The Department of Science and Technology has already contributed R10 million of the R40m needed
to fund the centre's research. UCT's vice-chancellor, Professor Njabulo Ndebele, said: "The ICGEB is
a positive step by the world community to develop science and research in Africa." The centre would
also strengthen UCT's efforts to train top researchers, who could address the challenges South
African society faced, he said.
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Doctors lose bed battle
Cape Argus; 14 September 2007
Di Caelers
Devastated doctors have lost the battle to prevent the closure of 60 beds at Groote Schuur Hospital,
with medical superintendents ordered to start the process from Monday. Provincial Health Department
spokeswoman Faiza Steyn said 15 beds had already been closed at Tygerberg Hospital and a further
15 closures will follow. The Groote Schuur order comes after a week during which not a single bed
was open in the entire hospital and doctors were warned to cut back on admission of patients for
elective procedures.
Groote Schuur was unable to ease the even worse load of Manenberg's GF Jooste Hospital, where
patients were "lying around for long periods" waiting for beds to open. The bed closure order came in
a memorandum yesterday from Groote Schuur's chief operational officer, Dr Saadiq Kariem.
"The closure of the beds must begin on Monday, September 17," says the memorandum. Doctors,
unions and civil society groups have been fighting the bed closures for months and the news has left
staff disappointed and angry.
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Although it appears they have lost, there have been suggestions that individuals should continue to
resist the process until they are certain services will be replaced by something of an equal standard.
"We cannot justify closing a single bed or clinic. "People are crying out so desperately for health care.
This is totally unjustifiable," said Dr Lydia Cairncross, spokeswoman for the Health Coalition Against
Budget Cuts. Professor Del Kahn, head of surgery at Groote Schuur, said the news was
nacceptable, coming at a time when the hospital was experiencing such a critical shortage of beds.
"It just doesn't make sense. It's insensitive … at a time when patients are suffering," he said, adding
that last week they had been asked to "be careful about elective admissions and even emergency
cases experienced delays".
In his memorandum, Kariem acknowledges the objections of the doctors to the bed closures which he
says have been "recorded on numerous occasions in our Combined Clinical Centre meetings with
heads of department". He adds that he understands the process "will be difficult", but makes it clear
"we have to proceed with immediate implementation" and appeals for the support of the medical
heads. Kariem reports that the formal approval for the closure of the 60 beds came yesterday from
Health MEC Pierre Uys and the acting head of the provincial Health Department, Dr Beth Engelbrecht.
Provincial health head Dr Craig Househam, who has been vilified for putting the budget before the
care of patients, is on holiday in the US.
According to Kariem's memorandum, the following beds will be closed: 27 private beds; 10 adolescent
orthopaedic beds; 7 adolescent endocrine beds; 2 adolescent dermatology beds; and 4 adolescent
radio oncology beds. The details add up to only 50 beds, but Steyn said that the outstanding 10 beds
were paediatric beds which would be moved to Red Cross Children's Hospital. Kariem says in the
memorandum that the closures will result in financial savings that will help address over-expenditure
for the hospital this financial year. He suggests that as patients are discharged from these beds, no
new patients be admitted and the bed subsequently closed.
A disappointed Cairncross said the sudden implementation of the controversial cuts was a "callous
disregard for the lives of the patients entrusted to our care and to the care of the administrators of the
health system". Kahn said the news of bed closures had crushed spirits at the hospital at a time when
staff were feeling more upbeat that their objections were going to be considered. "It's very
disappointing," he said.
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Nurses to get up to 88% pay rises
Cape Argus; 15 September 2007
Nurses in the public health sector will receive increases of 20%-88% on their starting salaries, Health
Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said yesterday. The increases, which would be retrospectively
introduced from July this year, come as part of the specific occupational dispensation which would see
substantial improvements in the salaries of professionals in the health department and the rest of the
civil service over the next few years. "It will make the public health sector more competitive and serve
as an enabler for the repatriation of our migrant health workers in countries abroad," the minister said.
She was speaking at the signing ceremony of the agreement between the government and labour
unions.
The agreement would see entry level salaries for staff nurses increasing by 20% from R58 290 to R70
140. The entry-level salaries for nursing assistants and professional nurses in general nursing will
both increase by 24%, from R43 245 to R53 757 and from R85 362 to R106 086 respectively.
Certain professional nurses serving in speciality areas would receive up to 88% increases depending
on their current salary positions.
"I am glad that we have been able to deliver these benefits to our nurses who are the bedrock of the
public health sector," Tshabalala-Msimang said. - Sapa
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