NHS employs too many hospital doctors, minister says

Too few doctors--or too many?

THIS conclusion has led the Royal Commission to recommend doubling the existing numbers of doctors within the next 30 years. This is an expensive proposal that is likely to add many millions of pounds to the annual budget of the nation. It requires careful examination. Estimates of medical manpower requirements are fraught with difficulties and hazards. The proposals of the Willink Committee (1...

Evidence of doctors' health minister at last.

Fragmented health care services are responsible for South Africa's dismal infant and maternal mortality rates while budgets are being greedily consumed by bloated and inefficient administrations that sideline clinicians at the coalface. New Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi said this to 200 doctors at Groote Schuur Hospital while sharing how he plans to turn the floundering health care ship a...

How many "me-too" drugs is too many?

ON AUGUST 3, 2009, THE US FOOD AND DRUG ADministration (FDA) approved pitavastatin (Livalo), making it the eighth statin approved for use in the United States and seventh currently available for sale. This approval comes almost a quarter century after that for the first member of the class, lovastatin, 8 years after generic lovastatin was approved and 4 years after 2 additional statins, pravast...

Therapeutic cytapheresis: too many platelets, too many white blood cells.

Myeloproliferative disorders may present with thrombocytosis and/or leukocytosis with symptoms ranging from minor to life-threatening. Therapeutic cytapheresis (TC), the removal of excess and/or abnormal cells such as platelets and white blood cells, can be used to rapidly reduce cells in the symptomatic patient. The patient's clinical status determines the need for TC as symptoms may not corre...

Too few physicians, or too many?