- What began as a good anaesthetic because of its pain-beating properties has evolved into a so-called game-changing treatment for depression, but with no clear guidelines, clinics are cashing in.
- Also linked with the party scene and celebrity scandals, ketamine is promoted online as a treatment for migraines, anxiety, addiction and ADHD, but are these claims credible?
- In South Africa, doctors can prescribe ketamine, even though drip infusions haven’t been approved by our medicines regulator, Sahpra, for anything outside of anaesthesia.
- Specialists warn that ketamine therapy requires expert training and monitoring.
- Psychiatrist Bavi Vythilingum, who runs a clinic offering ketamine infusions with an anaesthetist present, reports good results, but is concerned about “cowboy clinics” run by doctors without extra training in psychiatry and anaesthesiology.
In today’s newsletter, our Health Beat team finds out what happens when compassion and bureaucracy collide. Sign up for our newsletter today.
Anna-Maria van Niekerk is Bhekisisa’s news editor. She joined the centre after six years as the managing editor of the investigative television show, Carte Blanche. Anna-Maria has an extensive career in in-depth health and human rights reporting and has been named both the Vodacom Journalist (2002) and Discovery Health Journalist of the Year (2010) for exposés on the selling of human body parts for muti in Limpopo and the devastating consequences of HIV denialism.
Mia Malan is the founder and editor-in-chief of Bhekisisa. She has worked in newsrooms in Johannesburg, Nairobi and Washington, DC, winning more than 30 awards for her radio, print and television work.
Jessica Pitchford is Bhekisisa's TV and multimedia editor. She's been a journalist since the early nineties and has reported on some pivotal events in South Africa’s political history, such as the country’s transition to democracy and the work of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission.
Yolanda Mdzeke was a junior multimedia reporter and multimedia reporter at Bhekisisa between March 2021 and June 2025.
