April 2015 News Archive

No rehab for brain trauma patients >

Despite the burgeoning numbers of traumatic brain injuries in the country, the victims of this trauma end up being worse off because of a critical shortage of rehabilitation centres. Read more>

Your Family Practitioner (FP) knows you best >

GEMS always has our members' health at heart, and we continually strive to ensure that our members receive the very best care and get the most out of their benefits. Read more>

Postponement of Family Practitioner (FP) nomination and specialist referral rules >

Our members are important to us, that is why we carefully considered the feedback received from you during the recent member and stakeholder sessions, and decided to postpone the implementation of the FP nomination and specialist referral rules for 2015. Read more>

Invitation to bid: GEMS requires the services of service providers for each of the following services >

GEMS requires the services of suitably qualified and experienced service providers for each of the following services Read more>

Push for more medical schools to fill health gap >

South Africa has a critical shortage of doctors. The country's eight medical schools produce between 1 100 and 1 300 new doctors annually, but experts say about 3 000 new doctors are needed each year. Read more>

SA is the winner as local doctors stay put >

They were a special bunch back in 1994, being among the first matriculants of a democratic new South Africa. Six years later, 194 of them graduated as doctors at the University of the Witwatersrand. Read more>

'No fault' insurance proposed in the face of rising claims >

A 'no fault' compensation scheme is being proposed by the SA Medical Association, to help victims of medical negligence in the face of skyrocketing medico-legal claims. Read more>

Chronic medicine shock >

Thousands of patients with chronic conditions, including diabetes, high blood pressure and epilepsy could be living without their lifesaving drugs because of a shortage of chronic medicine in the Western Cape. Read more>

TB fight could soon get boost from simple swab diagnostic test >

A simple mouth swab may one day help diagnose tuberculosis, if the results of a small trail conducted in Worcester and Seattle can be replicated. Read more>

South Africa needs more nurses to sustain the healthcare industry >

The 2015 Provincial Budgets and Expenditure Review revealed that at the end of 2013, only 4% of nurses were 30 years or younger in age while, in contrast, more than 45% of nurses are 50 years of age or older. Read more>

HIV: "It's time to move towards elimination" >

Over the past decade, South Africa has made significant progress in the prevention of HIV transmission from mother to child through widespread interventions and broadened accessibility to prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) programmes. Read more>