A legacy of medical excellence
One should remember that the Cape was colonised by the Dutch in 1652 to establish a victualling station for the
VOC fleets and care for the health of its mariners.
Cape Town has excellent healthcare facilities, incorporating 18 public hospitals (10 732 beds) and 27 private hospitals
(3 102 beds). A further 43 community health-care centres, special patient clinics and day hospitals are evenly spread
throughout the health districts.
All modern specialities and sub-specialities are available in Cape Town, including organ transplants.
There are 3 500 medical practitioners – a ratio of 634 patients to each doctor, and a nursing staff of 22 000.
They have access to state-of-the-art medical equipment including a linear accelerator, cycoltrons, scanning machines,
magnetic resonance imagers, EEG's and lithotriptors.
The Western Cape Provincial Government has led the way in SA with the provision of anti-retroviral drugs to HIV/Aids patients.
Emergency services are available at all but a handful of clinics, with Level One trauma units at Groote Schuur, Tygerberg and
Red Cross Chidren's Hospital. Emergencies are handled by the Emergency Services Centre in Bellville which co-ordinates
ambulances, moutain and sea rescue teams, fire stations and ambulance aircraft. The Centre is supported by doctors and
a full medical staff 24 hours a day. The toll-free number 10177 provides immediate access to all emergency services
throughout the Western Cape at all times.
Those with private medical insurance are generally treated at private medical hospitals. The majority are charged
according to income. All patients, however, are treated at the hospital most suited to the required treatment, regardless
of their financial status.
Facilities in Cape Town also treat patients from throughout Africa, while 'healthcare or medical tourism' is a growing
market because of the high standard of local facilities, the quality of the medical expertise, the quick accessibility to
treatment, and very competitive costs.
There are two medical schools in Cape Town – the
Faculty of Health Sciences at UCT has the oldest medical school in Southern Africa. Its core business is research in
medical and allied fields and the teaching of undergraduate and postgraduate students in a large range of health
care-related disciplines. Its campus extends from its main teaching hospitals – Groote Schuur and Red Cross
Children's Hospitals in Cape Town – to a range of secondary hospitals and primary care health care clinics throughout
and beyond the Cape Peninsula.
Since its inception as the Faculty of Medicine in 1912, the Faculty has steadily built its reputation as an academic institution
of international quality and standing. Some famous breakthroughs in health care, amongst which the first successful
heart transplant in the world in 1967 and the pioneering research which led to the development of the CAT scanner, placed the
Faculty and Groote Schuur Hospital on the map as a world-class facility in sophisticated, tertiary medicine.
The Faculty has a well-developed research ethos. Its research can be broadly categorised into five main areas: public
health and policy; laboratory sciences; clinical medical sciences; epidemiology; and rehabilitation medicine and medical
support systems. Because of the quality of its research and the volume of its research output, the Faculty has for
decades been ranked top of the list of medical schools in South Africa by the Medical Research Council, South Africa's key
national statutory body that promotes medical research in the country.
The second is at the University of Stellenbosch's Bellville campus, which also has a Dental Faculty which is
being merged with the University of Western Cape's healthcare faculty.
Research features predominantly in Cape Town and the Western Cape, with 9.6% of the SA population, accounts for 20% of all
researchers in SA, and 15.4% of all R&D expenditure across all sectors.
The South African Medical Research Council is located in Cape Town.
Also see SA HealthInfo.
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