OnOctober 22nd we visited the Tygerberg Children’s hospital and the Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town. Tygerberg hospital is a tertiary one located in Parow, Cape Town which was built primarily for the black population. It was officially opened in 1976 and is the largest hospital in the western Cape. In Tygerberg hospital we learned about work performed by a non-profit organization called HOPE of Cape Town, which was created to helpprevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Next, we visited The Heart Museum located in Groote Schuur Hospital. Groote Schuur is a government-funded teaching hospital situated on the slopes of Devil's Peak in the city of Cape Town. It was founded in 1938 and is famous for being the institution where the first human heart transplant took place. These two hospitals are within the same area, but they differ in the economic and social statuses of the people they serve. In addition, these hospitals do not operate in the same ways.
In Tyberge Hospital we had the opportunity to learn about The Hope Cape Town Association. It is a non-profit organization established in 2001 in the Western Cape Province specializing in the fields of HIV/AIDS and TB prevention, outreach and education. A representative from HOPE Cape Town Association, Sr. Pauline Jooste, a senior professional Sister, gave us a presentation on the HIV outreach program and education. Hope Cape Town opened at Tygerberg Children’s Hospital to provide treatment, care, and education to children affected by HIV/AIDS in a friendly and family-focused environment. According to Sr. Jooste, HOPE Cape Town has been training and employing community health workers in various underprivileged areas in the greater Cape Town. She claims that HOPE is currently active in 18 communities located within a 200 km radius around Cape Town. Hope Cape Town helps single household mothers with no income, very little education, who might not have electricity or running water, to insure good health of their children and themself. They teach mothers to make healthy food for their children and provide education about HIV/AIDS.
South Africa has higher number of people with HIV than any other country in the world. In her presentation, Jooste mentioned that HIV is more prevalent in the black population than with white. Due to the lack of health education, medical facilities, and low average income, many in the black population are unable to avoid contracting HIV and other chronic and viral diseases. Despite a low budget, Tygerberg hospital is working hard to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and improve the lifestyle of the low-income population who are mostly black South African.
Since HIV/AIDS is very dynamic medical field, HOPE frequently gives training to community health workers and HOPE employees at Tygerberg hospital. These health workers go out to the public and organize free health clinics. They also conduct awareness programs, provide free condoms, and do HIV assessment tests. We met some student volunteers from Germany and United States who are supporting the mission of Tygerberg hospital to help HIV infected mothers and children.
After visiting Tygerberg hospital, we visited the Heart museum and learned about world first heart transplantation in Groote Schuur Hospital. This hospital is famous for first transplantation conducted by University of Cape Town educated surgeon Christiaan Barnard on the patient Louis Washkansky. This hospital was much more advanced and more economically supported than Tygerberg hospital. Groote Schuur is the chiefacademic hospital of the University of Cape Town's medical school, which provides tertiary care and instruction in all the major branches of medicine. It is an internationally acclaimed research institution and is world-renowned for its trauma unit, anaesthesiology and internal medicine departments. Groote Schuur attracts many visiting medical students, residents, and specialists each year who come to gain experience in various fields.
In Heart Museum, we learned about the first heart transplant conducted by Christian Neethling Barnard on December 3rd, 1967. We visited the room in the Museum where Surgeon Barnard performed first heart transplantation to his patient Washkansky. Although Washikansky requested heart transplantation very early, it took a long time for Christian to find best-fit heart donor. Due to the racial issue in South Africa, transplanting a blackheart to white receiver or vise versa was impossible. Once Christain found a black donor who was a best fit for Washkanshy, but due to the different skin color Christaiwas was not able to perform the heart transplantation even he and Washkanshy wanted to. Louis Washkansky was 54 years old who was dying of diabetes and incurable heart diseases. Finally, Barnard found another donor; the heart came from a young white woman, Denise Darvall, who had been fatally brain damaged in an accident on December 2nd, 1967, while crossing a street inCape Town. Although the Darvall family was in sorrow of losing a mother anddaughter Darvall’s father agreed to give permission to have his daughter’s heart be the first human to human heart transplant. After securing permission from Darvall's father to use her heart, Barnard started performing the transplant right away. Washkansky lived for 18 days and then died of pneumonia. L Learning about HOPE Cape Town in Tygerberg hospital and its mission to control HIV/AIDS and help HIV positive people was impressive, and being in the first transplant hospital was fascinating. However, the Tygerberg hospital is playing a moreimportant role in helping regular South African citizens. Furthermore, the amount of money spent in these two hospitals is vastly different. Groot Schuur hospital spends more money on securing the health of wealthy elderly people, extending their life expectancy by performing heart transplants and other major surgery. On the other hand, Tygerberg hospital is putting all its efforts to improve the health condition of low-income people including young, women and children. Looking at the HIV/AIDS, Malaria and TB status of South Africa, the hospital system in South Africa should more focus on preventing, curing or controlling those diseases rather than spending bigger amounts on elaborate and lavish healthtreatment. Though it is good to have modern technology and advance medical facilities, I think hospitals in South African should give more attention towards reducing HIV/AIDS, TB, and Malaria problems, which should be easier, less expensive, and more productive than decorating hospitals with modern facilities. Groot Schuur Hospital has many divisions with more doctors including the Heart Museum where as Tygerberg hospital is struggling to even collect money for helpless people. It is very necessary to increase the number of doctors and health workers on Tygerberg hospital than spending money on maintaining and decorating Groot Schuur.
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